Final answer:
A capacitor is the component that prevents static electricity from discharging by storing electric charge. It does so through two conducting plates separated by an insulator, and has a variety of applications including filtering static and energy storage.
Step-by-step explanation:
The component that prevents static electricity from discharging is known as a capacitor. A capacitor is a device tailored to store electric charge. It consists of two conducting plates separated by an insulator, often referred to as a dielectric. When connected to a battery, it accumulates an equal but opposite amount of charge on each plate, denoted as +Q and -Q, effectively making the device neutrally charged overall.
Capacitors are critical in various applications, such as filtering static from radio signals or acting as energy storage units in devices like heart defibrillators. The stored charge in a capacitor is only slightly higher than typical static electricity charges. However, due to certain limitations such as the breakdown voltage of air, which occurs at about 3.00 × 106 V/m, the amount of charge a capacitor can store has a threshold before the insulating medium becomes conductive.