What is capacitance?

Capacitance is defined as the ability of a capacitor to store electric charge per unit voltage across its plates. It is a fundamental property of capacitors, which are components used in electronic circuits to store energy temporarily. The capacitance value indicates how much electric charge the capacitor can hold for a given voltage; for example, a capacitor with higher capacitance can store more charge at the same voltage compared to one with lower capacitance. This relationship is mathematically expressed by the formula ( C = \frac{Q}{V} ), where ( C ) is capacitance, ( Q ) is charge, and ( V ) is voltage. Thus, understanding capacitance is crucial for designing and analyzing circuits that require temporary energy storage or filtering applications.

The other options represent different electrical concepts: resistance relates to how much a material opposes electric current, electric potential indicates the potential energy per unit charge at a point in an electric field, and flow of electrical charge refers to current, which is the movement of electric charge carriers. None of these definitions capture the essence of capacitance, which specifically relates to the ability to store charge.