What Happens When a Capacitor Charges Another Capacitor?

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When a charged capacitor Cx discharges into another capacitor Cy through a resistor, the voltage across both capacitors will change over time. Initially, Cx will exhibit a typical discharging curve while Cy will show a charging curve. Once the system reaches equilibrium, both capacitors will have the same charge, but they may not have the same voltage across them if they have different capacitances. The discussion highlights the confusion between series and parallel configurations, clarifying that after charge distribution, the capacitors effectively behave like they are in parallel regarding voltage. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for grasping capacitor behavior in electrical circuits.
physicsboy1
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Hi there!

I have a problem that I would like explaining if possible (I like to go a bit beyond the GCSE course to get a deeper understanding of the topics!).

Basically if I had a charged capacitor Cx with a voltage Vo across it which is connected in series with another capacitor Cy and a resistor. The switch is closed so that Cx now discharges across Cy (causing Cy to charge up) and the resistor.

My question is what would the voltage graphs look like for both of the resistors, would they both end up with the same voltage across them (I know the shapes would be the the typical capacitor discharging for Cx and capacitor charging for Cy) or would they both have different voltages? I also think they would both store exactly the same charge once the system has come to equilibrium.

Anyone help me out?

btw here is the info I was looking at: http://web.mit.edu/viz/EM/visualizations/coursenotes/modules/guide05.pdf
 
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Once the charge is finished distributing, you have 2 caps in parallel with the resistor not counting, since no current is flowing at that time.

Can two caps in parallel have different voltages?
 
phinds said:
Once the charge is finished distributing, you have 2 caps in parallel with the resistor not counting, since no current is flowing at that time.

Can two caps in parallel have different voltages?

If everything is originally in series how does it become parallel when the charge has been distributed sorry?
 
physicsboy1 said:
If everything is originally in series how does it become parallel when the charge has been distributed sorry?

Draw two caps in a loop. You can say they are in series OR parallel, but the voltage will act like they are in parallel.
 

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