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Two identical parallel plate capacitors are used. One is charged with
charge Q, so the plates have Q and -Q respectively. The other capacitor is
still uncharged. The stored energy of the charged capacitor is CV^2/2, or
Q^2/2C and the stored energy of the other one is zero.
Now perfectly *resistanceless* wires are used to connect the capacitors as
shown, being careful not to add or remove any charge from the system.
-------------
| |
------- -------
------- -------
| |
-------------
The charges redistribute, so that each capacitor has charge Q/2. The
total stored energy (both capacitors) is now
2 2
(Q/2) 1 Q
2 ------ = - --
C 4 C
This is half as much stored energy as before. Where did the rest of the
energy go?
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