Hi

1: Is microcontroller a term which is used to a package of a 'simple' microprocessor, RAM, ROM (which could be sometimes programmable), etc.? I would like a simple answer. Thanks.

2: Can I think of a capacitor as battery which stores charge or electrical energy for a brief period of time (or, until the potential of the circuit to which it is connected is higher), and capacitance as nothing more than 'amount' of electrical charge stored?

Thank you for your reply.

Regards
PG

 

I would like a simple answer

If you want to keep it simple,then yes you can say like that...

which could be sometimes programmable

They are always programmable, some you can program for many times (normally they are called Flash memory) and some are only one time programmable known as OTP(one time programmable) used mainly in commercial products.

Microcontrollers are designed for specific task rather for multi task operations like Microprocessors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcontroller

and capacitance as nothing more than 'amount' of electrical charge stored?

Capacitance of a capacitor is the ability to store energy in its electric field.

Good Luck

 

A capacitor really is not a battery. Capacitors store energy in electrostatic fields: the voltage across a capacitor is proportional to the stored charge ( Q=CV, so V=Q/C ) This is an inconvenient characteristic for energy storage, as the voltage is so far from constant.

Batteries store energy chemically, and generally provide a more nearly constant voltage, with only a modest fall as the battery is discharged, although this is more true for some types than others. For storing larger amounts of energy a relatively constant voltage is generally an advantage, but for other functions a capacitor may be a better choice.

While a battery can only operate at its own inherent voltage, a capacitor can work at any voltage from zero up to some rated maximum. Certain capacitors (polarised electrolytics) are restricted to one polarity, but other types can go from the rated maximum positive, through zero to the rated max negative. This lets us use capacitors in various ways where a battery would not work, for example as timing elements with circuits like the 555.

 

Thank you, debjit, Adjuster. Very kind of you, both.

If you want to keep it simple,then yes you can say like that...

They are always programmable, some you can program for many times (normally they are called Flash memory) and some are only one time programmable known as OTP(one time programmable) used mainly in commercial products.

Perhaps, I wanted to write that instead; I mean "programmable many times".

Best wishes
PG

 

A microcontroller contains memory that is programmable.
If it can be programmed only once, it is called "one-time programmable" or OTP for short.
Some microcontrollers use ROM, (read only memory) which are programmed once only at the factory.
On other types the user may be able to erase and reprogram the memory many times.