Capacitors and Inductors values

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the realistic values of capacitors and inductors in practical applications, contrasting them with theoretical values often encountered in educational settings. Participants explore how the choice of capacitor values varies depending on specific applications, such as audio work and power supply filtering.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant notes the disparity between theoretical values, such as a 1 F capacitor, and realistic values encountered in practice.
  • Another participant argues that the classification of capacitor values as "big" or "small" is relative to their application, providing examples from audio work and power supply filtering.
  • A third participant acknowledges that the answer to what constitutes a realistic value is indeed application-dependent.
  • It is mentioned that generally, capacitors range from pF to uF and inductors from uH to mH, with 1 F capacitors being rare and typically found only in specialized applications.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that the classification of capacitor and inductor values is relative to their specific applications. However, there is no consensus on what specific values are considered "big" or "small," as this varies widely based on context.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight that the definitions of "big" and "small" are dependent on the application and circuit functionality, indicating that there may be limitations in understanding without considering these contexts.

Corneo
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So being fresh from school, a lot of times as students we dealt with unrealistic values for caps and inductors. I remember doing a textbook problem where a cap's value was 1 F. Now that I'm in the real world. What is considered to be a realistic value? To push the question further, I see a lot of schematics with caps used as coupling caps, how do they go about picking such value? What is considered to be a small cap? 1 pF? Whats a big cap? 1 uF?
 
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What is big and what is small is relative to the application. In audio work, the typical capacitor used for a coupling cap would have a large value compared to a coupling cap used in VHF. A power supply filter cap filtering out 120 hertz would have a large value compared to one filtering out 30 KHz from a switch-mode supply.
 
I had a feeling that the answer to my question related to the application.
 
It's true that it will vary by application, and by circuit functionality. But in general, caps will be in the pF to uF range, inductors will be in the uH to mH range, and resistors will vary a lot, but mostly will be in the Ohms to 100kOhm range. Yes, 1F caps are very rare, except in very specialized applications.
 

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