Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Capacitor or condenser ?



I was happy to see the "Capacitor or condenser" thread revived but was
disappointed to find a message with a mislabeled subject. Then it occured
to me that my previous posting (about bringing closer two separately
charged parallel plates when |Q1|=|Q2|) shows another reason for keeping
the term "condenser". Four non-uniform distributions (two for each plate)
are turned into two uniform deistributions when the distance between the
plates becomes very short. And the electric field, which was initially
expanding toward the infinity is now confined to a very small volume. What
is wrong with the term condenser? It is used in other languages.

But I am really responding to Brian who wrote:

Line length, area and enclosed volume of y = 1/x for x>1 is called the
"Gabriel's Horn" problem, sometimes given as a proposition to be proven.

This horn has a paradoxial property. Divide it into two parts by inserting
a single plane partition which contains the x axis. You have a vessel whose
one wall can take as much paint as you wish (an infinite area, when x -->
infinity) but whose volume capacity is always finite.

Is it really a paradox? And what about the energy density (J/m^3) of the
electric field above?
Ludwik Kowalski