ARRL Technician Practice Exam

What is the basic unit of capacitance?

1. The volt

2. The ohm

3. The farad

4. The henry

The correct answer is: The farad

The basic unit of capacitance is the farad. Capacitance is a measure of a capacitor's ability to store electrical charge. One farad is defined as the amount of capacitance that, when charged with one coulomb of electric charge, results in a potential difference of one volt across the terminals of the capacitor. This unit is fundamental in circuits involving capacitors, which play a vital role in filtering, timing, and energy storage applications. Understanding capacitance and its unit is crucial for working with electronic components and designing circuits. The other units listed represent different electrical concepts: the volt measures electric potential, the ohm measures resistance, and the henry measures inductance. Each of these has its specific use in electrical engineering, but they do not pertain to the measurement of capacitance.