Paper Capacitors


Paper Capacitor


Paper capacitors are capacitors that are made of flat thin strips of metal foil conductors separated by a dielectric of waxed paper.

Paper capacitors have a capacitance range of 500pF to 50µF.

They have a high working voltage, so, thus, they are used in high-voltage equipment mainly.

The downside of paper capcitors are that they have high leakage rates, making them unsuitable for AC coupling, and their tolerances are no better than 10 to 20 percent, making them unsuitable for precision timing circuits.

Paper capacitors are not polarized; however, the body of the capacitor is usually marked with a color band at one end. The band indicates the terminal that is connected to the outermost plate of the capacitor. This terminal should be connected to the side of the circuit at the lower potential as a safety precaution.

Related Resources

Types of Capacitors


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