The maximum charge a capacitor stores depends on the voltage V0 V 0 you've used to charge it according to the formula: Q0 = CV0 Q 0 = C V 0 However, a real capacitor will only work for voltages up to the breakdown voltage of the dielectric medium in the capacitor.
On its way to that voltage, if the voltage exceeds the voltage rating of the capacitor, the capacitor will eventually fail. At that point it will be permanently damaged. It may have even externally ruptured. Is there a max voltage drop across a capacitor? Or does it always charge up to the same voltage as the supply?
The Working Voltage is another important capacitor characteristic that defines the maximum continuous voltage either DC or AC that can be applied to the capacitor without failure during its working life. Generally, the working voltage printed onto the side of a capacitors body refers to its DC working voltage, (WVDC).
The voltage rating is the maximum voltage that a capacitor is meant to be exposed to and can store. Some say a good engineering practice is to choose a capacitor that has double the voltage rating than the power supply voltage you will use to charge it.
Usually it is printed on the capacitor itself, or found in the datasheet, or by identification of a color scheme if you know what company makes it. If there is a max voltage, then what would happen if the supply voltage far exceeds the max voltage of the capacitor, would the dielectric material break?
So if a capacitor is going to be exposed to 25 volts, to be on the safe side, it's best to use a 50 volt-rated capacitor. Also, note that the voltage rating of a capacitor is also referred to at times as the working voltage or maximum working voltage (of the capacitor).
As we saw in the previous tutorial, in a RC Discharging Circuit the time constant ( τ ) is still equal to the value of 63%.Then for a RC discharging circuit that is initially fully charged, the voltage across the capacitor after one time constant, …