I believe you are saying an electrolytic capacitor could be used as a rectifier. Is this the reason I occasionally see a pair of them in series with - to - in audio schematics? It always leaves me with some doubt. John Ferrell My Competition is not my enemy! http://DixieNC.US ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Rolf" To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 2:50 PM Subject: Re: [EE] Why specify one kind of capacitor over another? > Spehro Pefhany wrote: >> Often there is some DC being blocked. >> >>> In this case, would it really matter what direction the capacitor's >>> polarity was facing? >> >> >> No, if the DC voltage is low (say 1V) it doesn't matter which way you >> install a polarized cap. > > The audiophiles would beg to differ since a reverse biased capacitor > is slightly non-linear. > > Just take your ohmmeter to an electrolytic cap. > One way you get 10's of megohms, the other polarity, low megs. > Clearly they have different DC resistances since electrochemistry > can still happen at the sub 1 volt level. > > Robert > > > _______________________________________________ > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > _______________________________________________ http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist