Entropic considerations on the Two-Capacitor Problem

Autor:	Lara, Vitor, Lima, Alexandre P., Costa Jr, Antônio T.
Rok vydání:	2012
Předmět:	Physics - Classical Physics
Druh dokumentu:	Working Paper
Popis:	In the present work we study the well-known Two Capacitor Problem from a new perspective. Although this problem has been thoroughly investigated, as far as we know there are no studies of the thermodynamic aspects of the discharge process. We use the Free Electron Gas Model to describe the electrons' energy levels in both capacitors in the low temperature regime. We assume that the capacitors and the resistor can exchange energy freely with a heat reservoir. We assume that the resistance is large enough to consider an isothermal heat exchange between the resistor and the heat reservoir. Thereby we obtain a positive entropy variation due to the discharge process, corroborating its irreversibility. Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures
Databáze:	arXiv
Externí odkaz:	http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.3890 Zobrazit plný text záznamu View this record from Arxiv