Force between the plates of a plane capacitor in a fluid: a rigorous thermodynamic analysis

Summary A critical analysis of the literature on the deduction of the well-known expression of the attractive force between the plates of a plane-parallel capacitor completely immersed in a linear dielectric fluid is presented. Then, rigorous deductions of this force are proposed. It is shown that, contrary to the statement reported in most references, no pressure difference exists between the fluid within the plates and the external fluid.