ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a physical explanation of displacement current, and discusses in details the energy stored in an electric field. Analysis of single-dielectric arrangement is necessary to grasp the theoretical aspects of electric field in a meaningful way. In real life, the dielectric between the capacitor plates is never a perfect one and hence a small amount of conduction current flows between the capacitor plates. A capacitor is an arrangement of conductors along with dielectrics that is used primarily to store electric charge. The energy stored in all the volume elements could then be summed up to get the total energy stored in any real-life dielectric arrangement having complex geometries and several dielectric media. A simple single-dielectric arrangement that have spherical symmetry is two concentric spheres with a homogeneous dielectric medium in between the two spheres. A simple single-dielectric arrangement that has cylindrical symmetry is two co-axial cylinders with a homogeneous dielectric medium in between the two cylinders.
