Thank you (Blush!)
I'm just visiting old ground here. I did a couple of articles on inductive and capacitive reactance, resonance, etc. for Popular Electronics a few years ago.
Cindy,
I nearly forgot this: You were working on an assumption that a lower capacitive reactance might always be better.
In the words of an old song, "It ain't necessarily so."
In the case of leakage current from hot ground in a long feeder causing GFI trips, you would want to aim for a lower capacitance (i.e. a higher reactance) to reduce that unwanted current.
That's not to say that the higher capacitance might not have some beneficial effects, such as helping to filter out harmonics.
In some cases you're not aiming for reactance as high or as low as possible, but for a certain optimum value. The capacitor in a split-phase motor is a good example.
[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 12-27-2001).]
