I know that one has polarity that needs to be respected but for my exercise it calls for an electrolytic that I just don't have,
I do have a polyester cap of the proper value and wondered if I used it, would it cause damage, not work, smoke, etc .
Thought that I would ask here first before trying it.

Thanks

 

Just make sure the voltage rating is high enough.

The main advantage of electrolytic capacitors is that they pack more capacitance in a small package. Some disadvantages are leakage, looser tolerance, and polarized.

 

There are many different types of capacitors and, in many applications you can use any type as long as the basics are met such as value and maximum voltage limits.

But there are also many applications where other aspects of physical capacitors, generally modeled as the various parasitic parameters, are extremely important and, as a result, for some applications it is very important that you use the right type or, more to the point, avoid the wrong type.

In the case of electrolytics, these other considerations usually get them lumped into the "wrong type" category. Electrolytic capacitors generally have poor parasitic qualities that are the compromise made to get high capacitance in a small package. As a result, if you can get enough capacitance and voltage tolerance using another type, you are probably okay.

 

AAC can help!

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/te.../chpt-13/practical-considerations-capacitors/

 

AAC can help!

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/te.../chpt-13/practical-considerations-capacitors/

Robin, that is a really good source. I didn't know quite how to find it. Maybe I should just start at the beginning and forge ahead.

Thanks

 

I know that one has polarity that needs to be respected but for my exercise it calls for an electrolytic that I just don't have,
I do have a polyester cap of the proper value and wondered if I used it, would it cause damage, not work, smoke, etc .
Thought that I would ask here first before trying it.

Thanks

There are various dielectric properties among ceramic capacitors and you usually have to pick a suitable one for your application. particularly RF types have defined tempco curves. Some types have slightly voltage dependent capacitance.

Multilayer ceramic chip capacitors have impressive size/capacitance ratio and among the lowest ESR. A trend in SMPSU design is for higher switching frequency to get away with smaller cheaper reactive components - MLCC caps can seriously outperform most electrolytics and are not hard to find big enough for the job in hand.

There are various types of electrolytic, so they also need knowing which ones are best for what application.

 

He goes into some depth of which type of capacitors are better suited for different tasks. (at least I found it informative)