How to get mechanical work from a capacitor and two batteries
General Physics
2012-09-28 v1
Abstract
The work done by a parallel plate capacitor is evaluated when the plate separation is changed. Two cases are considered: 1) the capacitor has a constant charge; 2) the capacitor is at constant voltage. The net work is calculated when the device follows a closed cycle in the charge-voltage space. For certain conditions a net mechanical work can be obtained from the cycling capacitor. The analysis is simple enough to be explained in a general physics course.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1209.6301,
title = {How to get mechanical work from a capacitor and two batteries},
author = {E. N. Miranda},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1209.6301},
year = {2012}
}