Two capacitor paradox

Re:Two capacitor paradox by mindslight on Monday May 25, 2020 @03:08PM (#23303885)

You lose 50% of the energy relative to the bottom of the water tanks (actually, the level you're using the water to perform work). If you did this with two 20 foot high tanks, but on towers 40 feet off the ground, then you retain 45 / 50 (the ratio of the changed center of mass) == 90% of the energy.

The oscillation bit happens, but it doesn't dominate. Water analogies can be misleading because water has intrinsic properties (eg turbulence ~= resistance) which aren't always significant in an electronic circuit. To make the equivalent of an LC-dominant circuit with (open) water tanks, you'd need something like a high-momentum turbine in the transfer pipe.

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Re:Two capacitor paradox by logicallee on Monday May 25, 2020 @03:37PM (#23304155)

When water equalizes in the "water seeks its own level" demonstration (in a series of connected glass tubes of various shapes, the water is at the same level in the whole system, as here: https://www.physics.purdue.edu/demos/display_page.php?item=2... ), does the system lose a lot of potential energy as the water equalizes?

The demonstration is called Pascal's vases.

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