A capacitor stores electric charge. It's a little bit like a battery, except it stores energy in a different way. It can't store as much energy as a battery, although it can charge and release its energy much faster. This is very useful, and that's why you'll find capacitors used in almost every circuit board.
In electrical circuits, the capacitor acts as the water tank and stores energy. It can release this to smooth out interruptions to the supply. If we turned a simple circuit on and off very fast without a capacitor, then the light will flash. But if we connect a capacitor into the circuit, then the light will remain on during the interruptions, at least for a short duration, because the capacitor is now discharging and powering the circuit. Inside a basic capacitor we have two conductive metal plates, which are typically made from aluminium or aluminium, and these will be separated by dielectric insulating material such as ceramic.
Dielectric means the material will polarize when in contact with an electric field. Okay guys that's it for this video but to continue your learning then check out one of the videos on screen now and I'll catch you there for the next