simple capacitor queston

[school]

call me stupid, but if there are no letters after a capacitor's numerical value, is it just a farad? if so, how does a farad compare to a microfarad (uf, right?).

[HeaD]

numerical value is expressed in pF

[school]

no, i mean, instead of .1pf, or .1uf, you just see .1 . what does that mean?

[HeaD]

no, i mean, instead of .1pf, or .1uf, you just see .1 . what does that mean?

maybe .1pF

[MartyB]

Here's a nice little tutorial on caps and designations:

http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/capac.htm

In your example 0.1 is most likely 0.1 microfarads (0.1uF).  Unfortunately there are quite a few schemes for labelling values.  What type of cap do you have or need and/or what exactly are the markings on it?

Usually small ceramic caps that have only one or two digits are pF measurements.  The ones with three digits (in the absence of a n or u)  indicate picofarads, with the first two numbers being a value that is times a power of ten indicated by the third digit.  The components you will see/use will all be micro-, nano- or picofarads.

1 farad = 1,000,000 microfarads  (uF)
1 uF =  1000 nanofarads (nF)
1 nF = 1000 picofarads (pF).

HTH
MartyB

[seanm]

no, i mean, instead of .1pf, or .1uf, you just see .1 . what does that mean?

If you see .1 on a schematic it is *almost* always uF.

[gammamu]

1 farad = 1000 microfarads  (uF)
1 uF  1000 nanofarads (nF)
1 nF = 1000 picofarads (pF).

HTH
MartyB

1F = 1000000uF

[school]

alright, i'll just go with the assumption that it is uf, because the un-labeled values are: .001, .002, .02, and .003.  that sounds plausible that they're uf, right?

[seanm]

alright, i'll just go with the assumption that it is uf, because the un-labeled values are: .001, .002, .02, and .003.  that sounds plausible that they're uf, right?

Sounds like uF to me.

[MartyB]

:oops:

Yup!  1 farad = 1000 millifarads = 1,000,000 microfarads.

I