phantom113 said:
charge can't jump the gap, so if you "put" it there, it just stays thereA capacitor stores charge through the separation of positive and negative charges on two conductive plates, with an insulating material (called a dielectric) in between.
When the power source is turned off, the charge on a capacitor remains stored on the plates. However, the voltage across the capacitor will decrease as the capacitor discharges.
The extra charge on a capacitor is stored on the plates, as the capacitor has the ability to store more charge than its initial capacitance due to the presence of the dielectric material.
The charge on a capacitor decreases over time due to the presence of leakage current, which causes the stored charge to slowly dissipate. This can also be caused by the capacitor's internal resistance and the presence of external resistors in the circuit.
No, a capacitor has a finite capacitance which limits the amount of charge it can store. If the voltage across the capacitor exceeds its maximum rating, the dielectric material can break down and the capacitor can be permanently damaged.