Passivity (engineering)

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Passivity is a property of engineering systems, most commonly encountered in analog electronics and control systems. Typically, analog designers use ''passivity'' to refer to incrementally passive components and systems, which are incapable of power gain. In contrast, control systems engineers will use ''passivity'' to refer to thermodynamically passive ones, which consume, but do not produce, energy. As such, without context or a qualifier, the term ''passive'' is ambiguous.

An electronic circuit consisting entirely of passive components is called a passive circuit, and has the same properties as a passive component.

If a component is ''not'' passive, then it is an active component. Provided by Wikipedia