Ripple (electrical)
![Full-wave rectifier circuit with a reservoir capacitor on the output for the purpose of smoothing ripple](/Images/godic/202502/07/Rectifier_with_reservoir.svg3347.png")
![Ripple voltage from a full-wave rectifier, before and after the application of a smoothing capacitor](/Images/godic/202502/07/Smoothed_ripple_gray_background.svg3347.png")
![Ripple on a fifth order prototype Chebyshev filter](/Images/godic/202502/07/Tchebyscheff53347.png")
The most common meaning of ripple in electrical science is the small unwanted residual periodic variation of the direct current (DC) output of a power supply which has been derived from an alternating current (AC) source. This ripple is due to incomplete suppression of the alternating waveform within the power supply.