How do capacitors work?

Seriously what's going on here?

How do they cause charge to move?

Is charge crossing over the gap between the plates? If so, how?

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So what's it like taking physics 2 for the first time?

How many times did you take physics 2?

Hopefully once.

Well how do capacitors work, smart guy?

The voltage source creating the potential difference is what causes the charge to build up on the plates to begin with.

There is no charge crossing the gap. For charge to cross the gap, the electric field would have to be strong enough to ionize the air so that it has a discharge path, but that'll only happen if they're close together or if there is a lot of charge on the plates.

They "fill up" on charge before continuing to pass current. Think of it as a reservoir that fills up at a rate proportional to the amount of water flowing in, before overflowing and being saturated. The rate of charge and discharge can be determined by any R value coupled with your cap.

There is a field in the gap. What does that field contain or do?

>tfw to intelligent to take basic courses freshman year

energy is stored in electric fields

you can't store electric potential energy without an electric field