Capacitive Reactance Calculator and Tutorial

Capacitive reactance is the capacitor equivalent to the resistance of a resistor. Unlike a resistor, a capacitor's reactance is inversely proportional to frequency. A capacitor exhibits an infinite reactance to a DC (0 Hertz) signal. As frequency goes up, the capacitive reactance will go down. At very high frequencies the capacitive reactance of circuit approaches zero.

The formula for calculating capacitive reactance is:

Equation 1: Xc = 1/(2*PI*F*C)

where

Xc is the capacitive reactance in Ohms
PI is the constant 3.14
F is the frequency in Hertz
C is the value of the capacitor in Farads

Capacitance Reactance Calculator

You can see how the capacitive reactance changes with frequency and capacitance using the capacitance reactance calculator below. Enter in the capacitance in uF and the frequency. If you enter in 0 for the frequency the calculator calculates an answer of infinity. If you want to change the frequency easily, after you enter a number in the frequency box, simply hold down the up or down arrow keys on your keyboard.

Capacitance Reactance Calculator

Capacitance (uF)
Frequency (Hz)   
Capactive Reactance Ohms :