12 citations · 57 across the 17 of their papers we have counts for
12 papers · 1 filter
A Capacitor Paradox
Kirk T. McDonald
Consider two capacitors in parallel, but initially isolated by a switch such that one is charged and the other not. After the switch is closed, the charges redistribute themselves…
A Conducting Checkerboard
Kirk T McDonald
The problem of a conducting checkerboard has recently been solved via an elliptic function whose argument is another elliptic function. The behavior of the fields and currents near…
Maximal Gravity at the Surface of an Asteroid
Kirk T. McDonald
The maximum strength of gravity at the surface of an object of a given mass is not attained for a spherical shape, but for a small departure from sphericity.
Hidden Momentum in a Coaxial Cable
Kirk T. McDonald
As an illustration of the concept of "hidden" mechanical momentum, we consider a coaxial cable one end of which is connected to a battery and the other to a load resistor. The nonz…
Methods of Calculating Forces on Rigid Magnetic Media
Kirk T. McDonald
Despite 180 years of theory on magnetism, it appears that the practice of calculating forces on magnetic media is ambiguous, as illustrated by a recent article by Casperson. Potent…
Magnetostatic Spin Waves
Kirk T. McDonald
In general, Maxwell's equations require that a wave of magnetic field be accompanied by a wave of electric field, and vice versa. In magnetic media it is possible to have waves of…