capacity

n 1: ability to perform or produce [ant: {incapacity}]

2: the susceptibility of something to a particular treatment;

"the capability of a metal to be fused" [syn: {capability}]

3: the amount that can be contained; "the gas tank has a

capacity of 12 gallons" [syn: {content}]

4: the maximum production possible

5: a specified function; "he was employed in the capacity of

director"; "he should be retained in his present capacity

at a higher salary"

6: (computer science) the amount of information (in bytes) that

can be stored on a disk drive; "the capacity of a hard

disk drive is usually expressed in megabytes"

7: an electrical phenomenon whereby an electric charge is

stored [syn: {capacitance}, {electrical capacity}]

8: the power to learn or retain knowledge [syn: {mental ability}]

[ant: {incapacity}]

capacitor

An electronic device that can store electrical

charge. The charge stored Q in Coulombs is related to the

capacitance C in Farads and the voltage V across the capacitor

in Volts by Q ◦ CV.

The basis of a {dynamic RAM} cell is a capacitor. They are

also used for power-supply smoothing (or "decoupling"). This

is especially important in digital circuits where a digital

device switching between states causes a sudden demand for

current. Without sufficient local power supply decoupling,

this current "spike" cannot be supplied directly from the

power supply due to the inductance of the connectors and so

will cause a sharp drop in the power supply voltage near the

switching device. This can cause other devices to malfunction

resulting in hard to trace {glitch}es.

(1995-04-12)