A surface-mount tantalum capacitor. By Epop [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Tantalum electrolytic capacitors were first manufactured for military purposed in the 1930s. These used wound ...

A capacitor made out of the precious metal tantalum. The silver-gray tantalum beads, in the form of compacted powder, can store a lot of charge relative to their mass. This enables smaller ...

The pioneering years in the history of capacitors was a time when capacitors were used primarily for gaining an early understanding of electricity, predating the discovery even of the electron.