Physics Technology Update (4th Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0-32190-308-0
ISBN 13: 978-0-32190-308-2

Chapter 21 - Electric Current and Direct-Current Circuits - Problems and Conceptual Exercises - Page 758: 76

Answer

Please see the work below.

Work Step by Step

We know that the energy stored in capacitor $C_1$ $U_1=\frac{1}{2}C_1V_1^2$ and energy stored in capacitor $C_2$ is $U_2=\frac{1}{2}C_2V_2^2$ Now $U_1+U_2=\frac{1}{2}C_1V_1^2+\frac{1}{2}C_2V_2^2$ $U_1+U_2=\frac{1}{2}C_1(\frac{Q}{C_1})^2+\frac{1}{2}C_2(\frac{Q}{C_2})^2$ This simplifies to: $U_1+U_2=\frac{Q^2(C_2+C_1)}{2C_1C_2}$ The equivalent resistance of the entire circuit is given as $\frac{1}{C_{eq}}=\frac{1}{C_1}+\frac{1}{C_2}$ The energy stored in the equivalent capacitance is given as $U_{eq}=\frac{1}{2}C_{eq}V$ $U_{eq}=\frac{1}{2}C_{eq}(\frac{Q}{C_{eq}})^2$ $U_{eq}=\frac{1}{2}\frac{Q^2}{C_{eq}}$ $U_{eq}=\frac{1}{2}(\frac{1}{C_1}+\frac{1}{C_2})Q^2$ $U_{eq}=\frac{1}{2}\frac{Q^2(C_1+C_2)}{C_1C_2}$ We can see that from both methods, we obtain the same result and this is the required condition.
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