[Starleper1]

Preferably on breakout boards. I accept the fact that if you place a capacitor between the input pin and ground, that it will act as a noise filter. However I don't understand how this actually works. Anyone care to explain?

Thanks

[doorknob]

Simple explanation follows: An ideal capacitor will conduct a higher-frequency signal better than it will conduct a lower-frequency signal. So if your desired signal is operating at a lower frequency and your "noise" is operating at a higher frequency, connecting a "bypass capacitor" between the signal terminal and ground will have a relatively smaller effect on the desired signal (conducting only a small portion of the desired signal to ground), however the higher-frequency "noise" will be effectively shorted out or "bypassed" to ground.

[Al_The_Man]

Another way to express it is a capacitor possess capacitive reactance, this value in ohms decreases with frequency, as opposed to inductive reactance which increases with frequency, again in ohms.
An allied application you can Google is low and high pass filters.
The ideal is to remove or cure the source, rather than treat it as it still exists.
Al.

[UUU]

It's like a spring in a car suspension. You go along a bumpy road and the small shocks are smoothed out.