We discuss the problem of the discharge of a capacitor associated with another identical and initially discharged capacitor. It is known that with or without the presence of an electrical resistance in the circuit, the final state of equilibrium, as well as the energy dissipated in the process, are always the same. The dissipation mechanism if there is no electric resistance is the irradiation of the system, and in the presence of electric resistance there are both irradiation and Joule dissipation, due to the interactions of the conduction electrons with the crystal lattice in order to always satisfy Poynting's theorem. The difference between both processes is the time interval in which the system reaches equilibrium and therefore the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation emitted by this system.
RC circuit; dissipation; irradiation
