Re: Why does electrostatic attraction in water decrease?

[Bob Sciamanda <trebor@VELOCITY.NET>]

What do you mean by "no heating must occur"?  Surely, some Coulombic
energy introduced simply by applying an E field could then become
"thermalized" and effect a temperature change - would your "no heating
must occur" exclude this possibility?

Bob Sciamanda (W3NLV)
Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (em)
trebor@velocity.net
http://www.velocity.net/~trebor
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pentcho Valev" <pvalev@BAS.BG>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 12:53 PM
Subject: Re: Why does electrostatic attraction in water decrease?


Bob Sciamanda wrote:

> Panofsky is here adding the caveat that he has calculated the
> electrostatic energy changes on the assumption that the dielectric
> constant k is fixed in time. Since k may be a function of temerature,
and
> applying the E field may heat the material,

Just a remark (I have to think more). If only conservative (Coulomb)
forces
are involved, as Panofsky stresses, no heating must occur. In my view,
heating
can only result from the action of a non-conservative force akin to gas
pressure. Some prefer to call such forces "entropic".

Pentcho