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Re: The Two Capacitor Problem.
At 10:25 PM 10/28/96 -0700, Jeffrey wrote:
>>From 73041.2215-at-CompuServe.COMMon Oct 28 21:46:10 1996
>Date: 28 Oct 96 11:16:23 EST
>From: JEFFREY WIGGINS <73041.2215-at-CompuServe.COM>
>To: Tesla List <tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com>
>Subject: The Two Capacitor Problem.
>
>Dave, All:
>
>Here follows, for your entertainment, the rantings of a lunatic.
>
>As the dielectric constant of free space (vacuum):
>How can nothing (the vacuum) do something (store energy)?
>It can't.
>
>Therefore, since space has properties, it cannot be nothing.
>(it's an AETHER/or thing!)
>
>This begs the question: What the &*%-at- is space, anyway?!
>
>Flames, brickbats, letterbombs etc. welcome...
>
>Jeffrey (I'm probably nuts, please help me) Wiggins.
Get some of the popular books on relativity and quantum physics for an
account of twentieth-century thinking on this subject. "Empty" space is
actually a rather busy place with virtual particles popping in and out of
existence. Dirac, years ago, postulated that what we see as "empty" space
is occupied by a sea of electrons at negative energy levels. Given
sufficient energy, they can be popped up to an observable positive energy
level, leaving positively-charged "holes" in the sea (electron-positron pair
production). This is analogous to hole production in solid-state electronics.
Energy in a capacitor is stored in the surrounding electrostatic field,
which can be thought of as a distortion of space in the vicinity. This is
analogous to storage of energy in a stretched (or compressed) spring.
Norm