# What does a capacitor do?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-capacitor-do/536106>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 14, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-capacitor-do/536106 "2010-04-14T19:24:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 27

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**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-a-capacitor-do/536106/27 "2010-04-15T16:48:13Z")

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besides the conductivity of the air the dielectric of the capacitor affects how long it can hold a charge.

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