Wayne Parham Messages: 18748 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
Inductors are coils, and when energy is applied to them, voltage rises across the coil before current flow increases through it. Capacitors are two plates separated by an insulator and when energy is applied to them, current passes before voltage rises across the plates. This is why there is a phase shift associated with these two reactive components, and it is also why they are in opposite directions. A resistor has voltage and current rise at the same time when energy is applied, so phase is zero.