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The difference between active components and passive components

25 March, 2025

What is the difference between active components and passive components? Electronic components can be divided into active components and passive components and two categories, so what are the differences between these two kinds of electronic components? Here's what you need to know about the difference between active components and passive components!

With or without power supply

In fact, the difference between active components and passive components can be seen from the name: electronic components that require a power supply are active components; and electronic components that do not require a power supply are passive components.Function

This difference between the presence or absence of a power source also determines the difference in function between active components and passive components. Generally speaking, active components can be used for signal amplification, conversion and other purposes; while passive components are used for signal transmission.

Circuit Nature

The difference between active components and passive components is also obvious from the point of view of circuit properties. Since active components work with a power source inside them, the active components themselves need to consume power so that they can work properly.

Passive components, on the other hand, do not have any form of power supply inside them and can work properly without an external power supply as long as the signal is input.

Circuit Power

The difference between active and passive components is also reflected in circuit power. Since active components require an input of external energy to operate, they consume a certain amount of power in the circuit. On the contrary, passive components do not require an additional source of power to operate, so they do not have any effect on the power consumption of the circuit.

Energy Conversion

The difference between active components and passive components is reflected in the energy conversion, mainly in the fact that active components can convert energy into an electrical signal output, such as power supplies, amplifiers, and transistors. These components require an external energy input to operate. On the contrary, passive components cannot convert energy into electrical signal output; they can only affect the resistance, capacitance, inductance, and other properties of the circuit.

Control ability

The difference between active and passive components is reflected in the control capability, mainly because active components have the ability to control other components; while passive components cannot control other electronic components.

Dynamic Response

The difference between active components and passive components is also obvious from the point of view of dynamic response: active components can respond to changes in external signals and change the output signal in a certain way. On the contrary, passive components cannot respond dynamically to external signals; their response depends only on parameters such as resistance, capacitance, and inductance in the circuit.Overall, the difference between active components and passive components comes mainly from the presence or absence of a power source, and from this point, it is possible to derive a series of other differences such as energy conversion and control capability.