Re: Capacitor energy experiment

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

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.

OK - so you've redifined the value of the stored energy. Now describe a way
to get CV^2 of useful work from the capacitor. Make it specific enough so
the method could be performed by those so inclined.

Bob at PC