Why Does a Capacitor Block DC Voltage in a Circuit?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mmmboh
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Capacitor Voltage
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
1 reply · 3K views
mmmboh
Messages
401
Reaction score
0
Hi, I have this circuit:

241.jpg




And when I change the DC offset voltage the wave in channel one moves up and down and the wave in channel 2 doesn't do anything except for flatten out a bit in certain areas (although I'm not sure that's relevant), my question is why? I know channel 2 is the voltage across the resistor, so is the change in DC voltage appearing solely across the capacitor? It appears the capacitor blocks voltage, but why?

Help would be great! :)
 
Physics news on Phys.org
The capacitor blocks the DC current. (Its impedance is 1/(wC) so zero frequency means infinite impedance.) No DC current, no DC voltage across the series resistor, the signal in CH2 has no DC component. The DC voltage drops solely across the capacitor, as you said.


ehild