Electrical reactance

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(Redirected from Capacitive reactance) In electrical and electronic systems, reactance is the opposition of a circuit element to a change of electric current or voltage, due to that element's inductance or capacitance. A built-up electric field resists the change of voltage on the element, while a magnetic field resists the change of current. The notion of reactance is similar to electrical resistance, but they differ in several respects. An ideal resistor has zero reactance, while ideal inductors and capacitors consist entirely of reactance, having zero resistance.

Contents
1 Analysis 2 Capacitive reactance 3 Inductive reactance 4 Phase relationship 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Analysis
In phasor analysis, reactance is used to compute amplitude and phase changes of sinusoidal alternating current going through the circuit element. It is denoted by the symbol Both reactance and resistance are components of impedance . .

where is the impedance, measured in ohms. is the resistance, measured in ohms. is the reactance, measured in ohms. Both capacitive reactance and inductive reactance contribute to the total reactance .

where is the capacitive reactance, measured in ohms is the inductive reactance, measured in ohms Although Hence, If If If , the reactance is said to be inductive. , then the impedance is purely resistive. , the reactance is said to be capacitive. and are both positive by convention, the capacitive reactance makes a negative contribution to total reactance.

Capacitive reactance
Main article: Capacitance Capacitive reactance is an opposition to the change of voltage across an element. Capacitive reactance and the capacitance .[1]
[2]

is inversely proportional to the signal frequency (or angular frequency )

A capacitor consists of two conductors separated by an insulator, also known as a dielectric. At low frequencies a capacitor is open circuit, as no current flows in the dielectric. A DC voltage applied across a capacitor causes positive charge to accumulate on one side and negative charge to accumulate on the other side; the electric field due to the accumulated charge is the source of the opposition to the current. When the potential associated with the charge exactly balances the applied voltage, the current goes to zero. Driven by an AC supply, a capacitor will only accumulate a limited amount of charge before the potential difference changes polarity and the charge dissipates. The higher the frequency, the less charge will accumulate and the smaller the opposition to the current.

Inductive reactance
Main article: Inductance Inductive reactance is an opposition to the change of current on an inductive element. Inductive reactance is proportional to the sinusoidal signal frequency and the inductance .

The average current flowing in an inductance

in series with a sinusoidal AC voltage source of RMS amplitude

and frequency is equal to:

The average current flowing in an inductance

in series with a square wave AC voltage source of RMS amplitude

and frequency is equal to:

making it appear as if the inductive reactance to a square wave was An inductor consists of a coiled conductor. Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction gives the counter-emf (voltage opposing current) due to a rate-of-change of magnetic flux density through a current loop.

For an inductor consisting of a coil with

loops this gives.

The counter-emf is the source of the opposition to current flow. A constant direct current has a zero rate-of-change, and sees an inductor as a short-circuit (it is typically made from a material with a low resistivity). An alternating current has a time-averaged rate-of-change that is proportional to frequency, this causes the increase in inductive reactance with frequency.

Phase relationship
The phase of the voltage across a purely reactive device (a device with a resistance of zero) lags the current by radians for a capacitive reactance and leads the current by for an inductive reactance. Note that without knowledge of both the resistance and reactance the relationship between voltage and current cannot be determined. The origin of the different signs for capacitive and inductive reactance is the phase factor in the impedance. radians

For a reactive component the sinusoidal voltage across the component is in quadrature (a phase difference) with the sinusoidal current through the component. The component alternately absorbs energy from the circuit and then returns energy to the circuit, thus a pure reactance does not dissipate power.

See also
Electrical measurements Susceptance Magnetic reactance

References
1. 2. 3. 4. Pohl R. W. Elektrizittslehre. Berlin-Gttingen-Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 1960. Popov V. P. The Principles of Theory of Circuits. M.: Higher School, 1985, 496 p. (In Russian). Kpfmller K. Einfhrung in die theoretische Elektrotechnik, Springer-Verlag, 1959. Young, Hugh D.; Roger A. Freedman and A. Lewis Ford (2004) [1949]. Sears and Zemansky's University Physics (11 ed ed.). San Francisco: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-8053-9179-7.

1. ^ Irwin, D. (2002). Basic Engineering Circuit Analysis, page 274. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2. ^ http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html

External links
Interactive Java Tutorial on Inductive Reactance (http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/java/inductivereactance/index.html) National High Magnetic Field Laboratory Inductive Reactance: Endless Examples & Exercises (http://www.sweethaven.com/sweethaven/ModElec/dcac/SunShine/LessonMain01.asp?uNum=221) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Electrical_reactance&oldid=552377302#Capacitive_reactance" Categories: Electronics Physical quantities This page was last modified on 27 April 2013 at 05:01. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.