What is the measure of a circuit's ability to store an electrical charge called?

The measure of a circuit's ability to store an electrical charge is referred to as capacitance. Capacitance is a fundamental property of capacitors, which are components specifically designed to store electric charge. The ability of a capacitor to store charge is defined in farads, and it depends on the physical characteristics of the capacitor, including the surface area of the plates, the distance between the plates, and the type of dielectric material placed between them.

In contrast, inductance relates to the ability of a conductor to store energy in a magnetic field, resistance measures the opposition to the flow of current in a component, and voltage represents the electric potential difference between two points in a circuit. These properties are different from capacitance and do not pertain to the ability to store an electrical charge. Therefore, understanding capacitance is crucial for both analyzing and designing circuits where charge storage is necessary, such as in timing circuits, filtering applications, and power supply systems.