Description Of Mechanism

A capacitor stores charge. One of their main uses is to flatten currents, by storing charge when the current is high and releasing it when it's low. Another one is as a sort of rechargeable batteries. The capacitor has two distinct chargeable parts, separated by an insulator. When you connect a pole to a cable, the other end of this to a battery, the other end of the battery to the other pole via a second cable, the condenser gets charged. Take out the battery, the circuit is open and the charges in the two halves of the condenser stay where they are. Connect a light bulb where the battery had previously been: the charges see the group cable plus light bulb as an easy path, they move, that's electric current, so you get light.That's the speedy back of the envelope explanation. You can charge the capacitor using sources of electric power other than a battery, and of course you can use its charge to power things more complex than a light bulb.