Energy Flow for a Variable-Gap Capacitor

Abstract

When capacitor plates are separated, the capacitor's electrostatic energy either increases or decreases, depending upon whether the charge or the voltage is held constant. For the constant-voltage case, an interesting puzzle can be posed to students: How is it possible that an external agent does positive work on the capacitor while at the same time the capacitor's stored energy decreases? An energy flow diagram, as suggested by Art Hobson's TPT article,1 helps to visualize the movements of energy among different parts of the system. What Richard Feynman calls a “surprising factor of one-half” in the expression for the force between capacitor plates confronts students with an additional puzzle to decipher.2

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