Farad
The farad (symbolized F) is the standard unit of capacitance in the International
System of Units (SI). Reduced to base SI units, one farad is the equivalent of
one second to the fourth power ampere squared per kilogram per meter squared (s4
· A2 · kg-1 · m-2).
When the voltage across a 1 F capacitor changes at a rate of one volt per second
(1 V/s), a current flow of 1 A results. A capacitance of 1 F produces 1 V of potential
difference for an electric charge of one coulomb (1 C). The farad is an extremely
large unit of capacitance. In practice, capacitors with values this large are
almost never seen.
In common electrical and electronic circuits, units of microfarads (µF),
where 1 µF = 10-6 F, and picofarads (pF), where 1 pF = 10-12 F, are used.
At radio frequencies (RF), capacitances range from about 1 pF to 1,000 pF in tuned
circuits, and from about 0.001 µF to 0.1 µF for blocking and bypassing.
At audio frequencies (AF), capacitances range from about 0.1 µF to 100 µF.
In power-supply filters, capacitances can be as high as 10,000 µF.