Construction of air-gang capacitor : Air gang capacitors are capacitors which use air as their dielectric. The simplest air capacitors are made of two conductive plates separated by an air gap.
Working : Variable capacitors are made by placing two sets of metal plates parallel to each other (Fig. A) separated by a dielectric of air, mica, ceramic, or a vacuum. The difference between variable and fixed capacitors is that, in variable capacitors, the plates are constructed in such a way that the capacitance can be changed. There are two principal ways to vary the capacitance: either the spacing between the plates is varied or the crosssectional area of the plates that face each other is varied. Figure B shows the construction of a typical variable capacitor used for the main tuning control in radio receivers. The capacitor consists of two sets of parallel plates. The stator plates are fixed in their position and are attached to the frame of the capacitor. The rotor plates are attached to the shaft that is used to adjust the capacitance.