The first capacitors (called condensers at the time) were constructed in the 1700s, and their primary use was for storing charge for use in electrostatic experiments. Today, it is the energy-storing capabilities of capacitors which are of more interest. Capacitors offer certain advantages over batteries when it comes to storing energy:
This all sounds great, but there's one problem: capacitors can't store nearly as much energy as a battery of the same size.