Popping a cap in the world of electronics is not good unless you like seeing your electrolytic capacitor burn up in flames. Capacitors play a significant role in the family of passive electronic components, and their uses are everywhere. Remember the flash in your digital camera? Capacitors make that happen. Or being able to change the channel on your TV? Capacitors again.
An electrolytic capacitor occasionally abbreviated e-cap is a polarized capacitor whose anode or positive plate is made of a metal that forms an insulating oxide layer through anodization. This oxide layer acts as the dielectric of the capacitor. A solid, liquid, or gel electrolyte covers the surface of this oxide layer, serving as the cathode or negative plate of the capacitor. Due to their very thin dielectric oxide layer and enlarged anode surface, electrolytic capacitors have a much higher capacitance - voltage CV product per unit volume than ceramic capacitors or film capacitors , and so can have large capacitance values. There are three families of electrolytic capacitor: aluminum electrolytic capacitors , tantalum electrolytic capacitors , and niobium electrolytic capacitors. The large capacitance of electrolytic capacitors makes them particularly suitable for passing or bypassing low-frequency signals, and for storing large amounts of energy. They are widely used for decoupling or noise filtering in power supplies and DC link circuits for variable-frequency drives , for coupling signals between amplifier stages, and storing energy as in a flashlamp.
Which way to connect a capacitor? - really basic question.
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Aluminium electrolytic capacitors have been in use for many years - in this way they have become a regular component in many designs. Electrolytic capacitors are widely used as leaded components, often being found in applications from power supplies to audio where leaded devices can be used. Initially aluminium electrolytic capacitors were not popular in surface mount technology format because of the levels of heat experienced during soldering could damage them. Now with more development, surface mount electrolytic capacitors are widely used and provide good levels of reliability.