Two capacitor paradox

Common card · No. 200864

The two capacitor paradox or capacitor paradox is a paradox, or counterintuitive thought experiment, in electric circuit theory. The thought experiment is usually described as follows: Two identical capacitors are connected in parallel with an open switch between them. One of the capacitors is charged with a voltage of V i {\displaystyle V_{i}} , the other is uncharged. When the switch is closed, some of the charge Q = C V i {\displaystyle Q=CV_{i}} on the first capacitor flows into the second, reducing the voltage on the first and increasing the voltage on the second. When a steady state is reached and the current goes to zero, the voltage on the two capacitors must be equal since they are connected together. Since they both have the same capacitance...

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