Extra exam question E5D05
Subelement E5, ELECTRICAL PRINCIPLES· Group E5D
What parasitic characteristic causes electrolytic capacitors to be unsuitable for use at RF?
- A.Skin effect
- B.Shunt capacitance
- C.Inductance (correct answer)
- D.Dielectric leakage
WhyParasitic inductance is what makes electrolytic capacitors unsuitable for use at RF. Electrolytic capacitors are built with a rolled foil-and-electrolyte construction that gives them significant parasitic series inductance, and that inductance dominates their behavior at RF, making them behave more like an inductor than a capacitor well before reaching typical amateur RF frequencies, answer C. Skin effect, shunt capacitance, and dielectric leakage are real characteristics of various components, but inductance is specifically what rules electrolytics out for RF use.
Published 2026-08-28 · Last updated 2026-08-28 · Question text is verbatim from the 2024-2028 NCVEC Element 4 pool (public domain); the explanation above is original writing, see our methodology.
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