hi, i'd like to ask why is the capacitor discharging? Is it because the voltage where it is connected (suppose you disconnect the capacitor in the circuit and hooked those two points in oscilloscope) is going below the voltage of the capacitor and the capacitor reacts by discharging? Another question is,
can it do charge or discharge on the same path or it should it be different for both? i'm figuring out how circuit works and i'm sometimes confused with this capacitor? Any web site or books that you could recommend for some circuits explanation and how its component works in the circuit? just some basic electronic circuits.
thanks a lot
ronn

 

AAC ebook tutorial on capacitors.

Take a look here to see if it will help.

hgmjr

 

A charged capacitor acts just like a battery. It has a positive and negative terminal and charge flows from the positive towards the negative terminal. It holds a specific amount of charge and it has a voltage. The interesting thing about capacitors is that they are able to release their entire charge in close to an instant and they are designed to be charged and discharges, some times up to a million times a second.

So to answer your question about why it discharges. It discharges because it has a voltage, which is a potential difference between its leads. The positive and negative leads are attracted to each other and when connected they will discharge their energy.