How Capacitors Work

► When capacitors are connected in parallel with a battery, electric charge from the negative terminal of the battery travels to the negative terminal of the capacitor where it is accepted. On the other hand, the positive terminal of the capacitor loses electrons which travel to the positive terminal of the battery. Although the electric charge is not stored instantaneously, the process is much faster than the charging process of a battery, or of an accumulator.

The bigger the common surface area between the two metallic plates, the higher the charge that can be stored inside a capacitor, so in the end capacitors may store enormous amounts of electric energy. When the electric charge stored inside a capacitor needs to be used, they are connected in electronic circuits in the same way as the batteries. Again, a big advantage/disadvantage - according to applications - opposed to batteries is that although they can accumulate large amounts of energy in a relatively small amount of time, they release it just as quick.