Re: Capacitor energy experiment

[Bob LaMontagne <rlamont@POSTOFFICE.PROVIDENCE.EDU>]

David Rutherford wrote:

> Bob LaMontagne wrote:
> > David Rutherford wrote:
> >
> > > Thus, for a capacitor charged through a resistance, the energy
> > > dissipated by the resistor during charging should be included, along
> > > with the energy of the charges stored on the capacitor, in the energy
> > > of (work done on) the charges. Since the energy dissipated by the
> > > resistor during charging is 1/2 CV^2 and the energy stored on the
> > > capacitor is 1/2 CV^2, I claim that the total energy of the charges,
> > > in the absence of dissipation would have been CV^2. This would seem to
> > > indicate that the energy of a distribution of charges is twice the
> > > conventional value.
>
> You won't get CV^2 of work from the capacitor, alone. As I stated above,
> the energy stored on the capacitor, in the presence of a resistance, is
> only 1/2 CV^2. The other 1/2 CV^2 of energy is dissipated as heat in the
> resistor during the charging of the capacitor.

Ok - so far so good - you agree that the energy stored in the capacitor is 1/2
CV^2. Now, since the energy resides in the field, not in the charges, what
possible set of circumstances could have the energy stored in an identical
capacitor with the same charge and voltage to be anything except 1/2 CV^2 -
regardless of how it was charged - dissipatively or non-dissipatively?

Bob at PC
PS - Help - anyone - is dissipatively a legitimate word?