Which electrical component is used to store electrical energy?

The component that is used to store electrical energy is a capacitor. Capacitors function by accumulating charge on their plates when connected to a voltage source. This is due to their structure, which consists of two conductive plates separated by an insulating material, known as a dielectric. When a voltage is applied, an electric field is created across the dielectric, and this allows the capacitor to store energy in the form of an electrostatic field.

When a circuit requires energy, the stored electrical energy can be released by discharging the capacitor. This makes capacitors essential in many electrical and electronic applications, including power supply smoothing, timing circuits, and filtering signals. Their ability to quickly release stored energy also differentiates them from other components, such as resistors, which dissipate energy rather than store it, inductors, which store energy in a magnetic field rather than an electric field, and diodes, which primarily control the direction of current flow.