Capacitor and Dielectric Slab

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gokul43201
Okay, so YOU prove that the slab will undergo periodic motion if released, and calculate what
the period will be.

As I explained before, I claim there will be no periodic motion because the slab will slide out
of the plates and fall on the floor and live there happily ever after. Please tell me how this is
wrong.

Prove that your statement is true....:) The energy stored in the capacitor is higher if it is filled
with a dielectric than without it. This does not mean that the energy of the system battery-
capacitor is also higher with the dielectric in.

I will prove that there is an inward force acting on the slab if it was pushed to move inward at
the beginning. And it will continue to move inward with constant acceleration till it reaches
the end of the capacitor.
Problem:
A plane capacitor is connected to a battery that ensures constant voltage V across its plates.
There are no losses, no resistance, no friction. The plates of the capacitor are of length l, width
w, and they are d distance apart. The area of one plate is A = l*w. The electric field intensity
inside the capacitor is E=V/d.
A dielectric slab of dimensions l x w x d and relative dielectric constant is placed so that its
front face is inside the capacitor, at distance "a" from the edge. It is pushed a little inward.
What happens?

Consider a small displacement of the slab inward. The intensity of the electric field, just as
the voltage remains unchanged. The capacitance will increase, and so will the energy of the
capacitor. At the same time, some free surface charge will disappear because of the dipole-
chains built up in the dielectric. To maintain constant voltage, the battery will supply extra
charges, but it has to exert work to do this. Moreover, the KE of the slab can change.

Work of the battery= change of the energy of the capacitor + change of the KE of the slab.
.

The work of the battery is:

The change of the surface charge on the planes of the capacitor is equal to the change of the
electric displacement, D, multiplied by the increment of the surface. When the dielectric
replaces the vacuum and the electric field, E, stays the same D changes by . So

The capacitance changes by , and the energy stored in the

capacitor would change by
.

From the condition of work-energy balance we get:

Rearranging the equation:

The time rate of change for the kinetic energy is

According to the formulation of the problem, the slab is given a little push inward. So v is
small at the beginning, but positive. The direction of the acceleration is also positive. The
speed will increase; there is inward force acting on the slab.
This little push is crucial, as we could not say if the slab starts to move or stays in its original
position using the argument above. But there is really an inward force on it, coming from the
"fringe effect" at the edges of the capacitor plates. The field near the edges is inhomogeneous
and produces an inward force onto the slab. But to prove this is beyond the "college level".

Anyway, the slab will not "slide out of the plates and fall on the floor and live there happily
ever after move out of the capacitor". If it moves out, we have in the formula for
dKE/dt, so it would be negative. The slab would slow down, that means an inward force
again.

The slab was assumed moving inward at the beginning. We have deduced that it will continue
to move inward with constant acceleration,

till its front face reaches the edge of the capacitor. From there on, the situation is reversed,
new free charges appear on the plates as the slab moves outward, and the capacitor feeds back
charges to the battery. Its energy decreases but to feed back the charges, additional energy is
needed on the account of the KE of the slab. At the end the slab will stop. Now it is the fringe
effect that will start the slab to move inward again.

The time now.

The displacement is l-a, the time needed is

.
The time period is four times longer:

The solution quoted by ambuj was 8sqrt( ((l-a)lmd)/(eAE^2(K-1))) which is very similar to
my result, but dimensionally not correct.

Originally Posted by TenaliRaman

Any system i believe tries to achieve a low field potential, then how come this bizarre event of
capacitor actually pulling the dielectric block in ?? (assuming that my knowledge base : *that
the field potential increases as the block moves in is correct*?? or is it that we relate the field
potential to the actual potential difference across the plates which is constant here and hence
the effect is not actually violating any rules as such)

-- AI
Hi Al,

That event -I mean the capacitor pulling in the dielectric- is not that bizarre. You see a similar
effect with a coil connected to a battery and a piece of iron road. The coil will suck the piece
of iron in, just like the capacitor does with the dielectric slab. And the energy density inside
the coil 0.5*B*H will increase if the magnetic permeability increases and the current stays the
same. Try and see yourself.

As for your statement that "the field potential increases as the block moves in" - I do not
really understand what you mean on "field potential". There is a potential in a point in an
electric field. There is a potential difference between the two plates of the capacitor. But it
does not tend to minimize itself. It is a positive charge which tends to occupy a place with
lower potential. The field inside the capacitor has got an energy density, and this multiplied
by the volume is the same as the "energy of the capacitor" 0.5*V^2*C (well, if we don't
bother ourselves with the field outside the capacitor. Maybe we do it wrong.) Yes, this would
increase if the slab moves in, but the capacitor is connected to the battery, and it maintains a
constant potential difference across the capacitor. A system tends to occupy the lowest energy
if it is let alone, but this capacitor is not "let alone".

I am not an expert on electric field calculations and Thermodynamics and so on, but I try to
imagine that I am inside that battery and watch what happens. There is an electrolyte and two
electrodes, say a zinc and a carbon one, and the zinc ions would like to go into the electrolyte,
they like to be there, because of some crazy chemical desire, I never understood Chemistry,
but they can not go any more, as the electrons left behind the electrode are pulling them
back... then the electrodes of the battery are connected to the capacitor. The electrons happily
run there to occupy the empty space, more zinc ions can dissolve and at the end the process
stops again when the capacitor is charged to the voltage of the battery. Poor zinc ions, left on
the electrode, should stay there longing for the cool electrolyte in vain. But then a dielectric
slab is pushed between the plates of the capacitor. The electric field would polarize its
molecules or atoms, and align them into dipole chains, and the ends of the chains neutralize
some charges on the capacitor plates. The voltages would fall, but new charges rush over from
the battery, so the result is that the voltage stays constant. This goes on till the dielectric
totally fills the place between the capacitor plates. It looks as if the battery would prefer the
dielectric in, as it has more place for the charges and more zinc can dissolve. A battery likes
to spread out its charges, that means it loses more energy then the capacitor gains.