  A nematic liquid-crystal cell subject to an electric field created by
electrodes held at constant potential is modeled as a variable capacitor in an
RC circuit. The state of the system is characterized in terms of the director
field in the cell and the charge on the electrodes. A dynamical system is
developed that couples director dynamics in the cell (with no fluid flow) and
charge dynamics in the circuit. The dynamical equations are derived from
expressions for the total potential energy of the system and a dissipation
involving a single rotational viscosity for the director plus Joule heating
associated with current in the circuit. An effort is made to quantify effects,
in particular the widely differing time scales for the processes involved, and
numerical illustrations are given. The exercise illuminates aspects of the
modeling of equilibrium states of such a system.

Soft Condensed Matter