Noob question for capacitors

[FrED]

Is there any difference on capacitors with different voltage? For example, a capacitor 1μF 16volts is same with one 1μF 1000 Volts?

[Erkeli]

There is no difference depending the capacitance. The only different is depending the working voltage. The 2nd cap can work under 1000 volts but it will do exactly the same job as the 1st capacitor.

If your question goes like "Can i replace cap 1 with cap 2?" then the answer is yes but NOT vice versa. The 2nd cap is for higher voltages that the 1st might not stand it.

[jbrs128]

But the 1000V cap can also work at the 16Volts e? Can it?

[FelIX]

naturally!

[jbrs128]

Then why not only have for example 1000V capacitors? They are same size almost.

[tpone]

Cost and accuracy.

Why don't you use 2w resistors instead of 1/8?

[FrED]

sure

[Johnny2Bad]

Cost and accuracy.

And very importantly ... physical size.

Although it's possible to have certain capacitors of similar size with differing voltage ratings, capacitors vary widely in construction. Different construction results in differing sizes, and in some cases, a certain construction will result in large variances in size from one voltage rating to another. The size of modern capacitors is smaller, generally, than older variants. So, it is easy usually to substitute a larger voltage rating unit when doing such things as repairing collectable radios. If you are building new, however, size is an important constraint. For example, short signal paths in a Switching Amplifier (eg Class D) are important, as are capacitors mounted very close to the chip amp. Size will be critical here.