  The relaxation in a vacuum capacitor-resistor circuit is comprised of two
exponential decays, one caused by surface charge and the other by the decay of
energy stored between the capacitor plates. A simple phenomenological model of
this relaxation is shown to be supported by measurements even though Maxwell's
equations are difficult to apply in this case. Similar behavior is also
observed for polypropylene capacitors, indicating that this surface charge
effect is applicable to all capacitors and potentially other circuit
components.
