This is the capacitive reactance calculator, a useful method for estimating a capacitor's so-called resistance in an electric circuit. The capacitive reactance formula can be found in the text below, along with an explanation of why the reactance occurs for alternating current but not direct current.
What is a capacitive reactance?
Reactance is the ability of an electric circuit feature to resist current flow. We may compare capacitive reactance to capacitor resistance using this term. Even the unit of reactance, the Ohm (), is the same as the unit of resistance. A reactance is usually denoted by the letter X.
While in a circuit, the reactance (X) and the resistance (R) are often confused, there is a difference between the two. The reactance has an impact on alternating current (AC), while the resistance has an impact on direct current (DC) (DC). They are, in general, the components of an impedance Z, a dynamic quantity that defines a circuit's total opposition to current flow:
Z = R ± j * X
where j = -1 is a fictitious number (square root of a negative number).
A capacitor's capacitive reactance is one of its properties. Similarly, an inductor's inductive reactance is a property. When used as a strictly resistive element, an ideal resistor has zero reactance. Perfect capacitors and inductors, on the other hand, have no resistance.
How to calculate capacitive reactance? Capacitive reactance formula
One of the crucial properties of AC is its frequency f. We can calculate the capacitive reactance X of a capacitor C using the following equation:
Alternatively, we can write the capacitive reactance formula as:
where ω = 2 * π * f is the angular frequency of the current.
