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Mistake Master · AP Physics C: E&M · Unit 13 · Step-Through Animation

The Circuit That Sloshes

You'll learnwhat a charged capacitor does across a coil: it does not just empty - the charge sloshes back and forth forever, like a mass on a spring.

Charge a capacitor, connect it across a big coil, and let go. It does not quietly empty itself: it empties, overshoots, charges up the other way round, and comes back, over and over, forever. Twelve short steps; press Next for each one.

12 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · IT SLOSHES · A QUARTER PERIOD APART · ONE OVER THE ROOT · v2

it empties, overshoots, and comes back · a quarter period apart, forever
Before you start
What you're looking at
A charged capacitor and a coil in one loop, with no battery and no resistor. The violet bar is the charge; the teal arrow is the current.
The question
What happens when the capacitor is allowed to empty through the coil?
Step 1 / 12