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Re: The Capacitor problem - once more



Chuck Britton wrote:

<snip>
Let's push the problem to another extreme and assume that the
interconnections are made with SUPERCONDUCTORS!!!!!!

(How is the 'spring-pendulum' model going to address the energy
dissipation that occurs? I'm sure it's possible, just not clear to me
yet.)

I think I sort-of sneaked that in at the end when I mentioned an HCl
molecule as an example of a spring pendulum. I indeed have difficulty
imagining a spring pendulum in the normal sense in which we have zero
friction. But if we allow molecular bonds to be springs, and if we can
isolate one molecule (or have a low enough pressure that we have
minimal collisions), then the energy-gain/loss between vibrational
states has got to be E&M.

Sure, there's a point when an analogy has been stretched too far, and
maybe the spring pendulum has been "stretched beyond its elastic
limit." I was just trying to say the same thing Brian Whatcott said in
much fewer words... "It would be unrealistic to suppose that there is
only one mode for disposing of the 'lost' energy, in this or any other
experimental arrangement."
The spring pendulum demonstrates this and so does the capacitor
problem. The only reason to introduce the complication of an analogy
is if it helps some people. I find that people often understand
mechanical systems better than electrical systems. Hence mechanical
analogies to electrical systems help some people.

Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817