One capacitor charging another capacitor

[cmb]

Alas... I stayed on to give you the benefit of the doubt, in case you had something insightful to say.

I am absolutely dumbfounded that you do not find my conclusion above fascinating.

I suppose we live in an age where everyone wants a soundbite, spoon fed to them.

The conclusion, that it doesn't matter how the energy is lost, it is the same amount of energy, is fascinating. In fact, I suppose it is a form of 'Gibbs free energy' type calculation, in which we look at the 'before' and 'after' state and recongise that both are defined, so the route to the end-point is immaterial.

The example given above with the spring is similarly so. Imagine you drop a mass on a spring, through lossy fluids, magnetic fields, whathaveyou that might impede its decent, yet at the end, once equilibrium is achieved, exactly the same amount of potential energy would have been expended.

I think that is fascinating. You don't? Time for you to move on to graze for your next sound-bite...

 

[technician]

I would like to go right back to your first post and do what I think the question is asking.
I am going to assume that when C1 is connected to C2 they are in parallel... that is a sensible way to use one capacitor to put charge on another.
First of all C1 is 1μF charged to 10V so energy stored is 0.5 x 1 x 10^-6 x 10^2
This gives 5.0 x 10^-5J
also the charge on C1 = C x V = 1 x 10^-6 x 10 = 1 x 10^-5 C
When C1 is connected (in parallel) to C2 the combined capacitance = C1 + C2 = 1.25x10^-6 F
The charge in the combination remains the same (1x10^-5C)
therefore the Voltage across this parallel combination is V =Q/C = 1x10^-5/1.25x 10^-6 = 8V
The energy stored on the combination is 0.5xCxV^2 = 0.5 x 1.25x10^6 x 8^2 = 4 x 10^-5J
So there has been an energy loss of 5x10^-5J - 4x10^-5J = 1x10^-5J
In an earlier post I explained how energy is lost when charge flows on to or from a capacitor.
Resistance of any connecting wire, sparking at the switch and in the last resort electromagnetic radiation (probably radio waves).
This radiation can be detected on a radio in the vicinity, it can be shown on an oscilloscope with a pickup coil of a few hundred turns connected to the input of the CRO