Fig. 31. Test of Line with Varying Shunt Capacity
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The unit of electrostatic capacity is the farad. As this unit is inconveniently large, for practical applications the unit microfarad—millionth of a farad—is employed. If quantities are known in microfarads and are to be used in calculations in which the values of the capacity require to be farads, care should be taken to introduce the proper corrective factor.

The electrostatic capacity between the conductors of a telephone line depends upon their surface area, their length, their position, and the nature of the materials separating them from each other and from other things. For instance, in an open wire line of two wires, the electrostatic capacity depends upon the diameter of the wires, upon the length of the line, upon their distance apart, upon their distance above the earth, and upon the specific inductive capacity of the air. Air being so common an insulating medium, it is taken as a convenient material whose specific inductive capacity may be used as a basis of reference. Therefore, the specific inductive capacity of air is taken as unity. All solid matter has higher specific inductive capacity than air.

The electrostatic capacity of two open wires .165 inch diameter, 1 ft. apart, and 30 ft. above the earth, is of the order of .009 microfarads per mile. This quantity would be higher if the wires were closer together; or nearer the earth; or if they were surrounded by a gas other than the air or hydrogen; or if the wires were insulated not by a gas but by any solid covering. As another example, a line composed of two wires of a diameter of .036 inch, if wrapped with paper and twisted into a pair as a part of a telephone-cable, has a mutual electrostatic capacity of approximately .08 microfarads per mile, this quantity being greater if the cable be more tightly compressed.

The use of paper as an insulator for wires in telephone cables is due to its low specific inductive capacity. This is because the insulation of the wires is so largely dry air. Rubber and similar insulating materials give capacities as great as twice that of dry paper.

The condenser or other capacity acts as an effective barrier to the steady flow of direct currents. Applying a fixed potential causes a mere rush of current to charge its surface to a definite degree, dependent upon the particular conditions. The condenser does not act as such a barrier to alternating currents, for it is possible to talk through a condenser by means of the alternating voice currents of telephony, or to pass through it alternating currents of much lower frequency. A condenser is used in series with a polarized ringer for the purpose of letting through alternating current for ringing the bell, and of preventing the flow of direct current.

The degree to which the condenser allows alternating currents to pass while stopping direct currents, depends on the capacity of the condenser and on the frequencies of alternating current. The larger the condenser capacity or the higher the frequency of the alternations, the greater will be the current passing through the circuit. The degree to which the current is opposed by the capacity is the reactance of that capacity for that frequency. The formula is

Capacity reactance = 1 ÷ C ω