system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How do capacitors actually "store" energy? 

For example, after you charge a capacitor and one plate is positive and one other plate is negative and then you use it to power another component i understand that it is about the flow of electrons due to the charged plates, but my question is what type of energy this is defined as? For example is it a type of potential energy whereby it has the potential to cause a current? Also in things like ultracapacitors how exactly do they stop them discharging when they are not connected to anything but are in contact with some sort of cause or air?
gpt
I don't know how deep you want to go with this, but I'll answer this way and then we can gauge whether you want to go deeper or not.

When you charge a parallel-plate capacitor (the type you're describing in the question), one side is positive and the other side is negative, like you said. When this happens, you generate an electric field between the positive and negative plates. Energy is stored in this electric field.

It's a type of potential energy in the sense that the electric potential is calculated from the field (taking an integral of the field will give you the potential). So in that sense, it is a form of potential energy, since the energy is stored in the field.