Speaker
Description
Driven damped oscillators appear in introductory physics textbooks both for first-semester mechanics and for second-semester electromagnetism. Either case would be more accessible (to illustrate such important concepts as underdamping and resonance) if students were exposed to the basic theory and made lab measurements. Unfortunately both the theory and apparatus are usually considered too complicated to undertake in either semester, and consequently the topic is given cursory treatment by teachers. However, by considering a series RLC circuit driven by a function generator, the analysis and the experiment can be brought within reach of introductory students. I will discuss simple instrumentation [1] that can be used for this purpose. I also suggest an approach to the accompanying mathematical derivations [2] which start from basic principles.
[1] C.E. Mungan, "Simple but accurate driven RLC experiment," Phys. Educ. 57, 053002 (2022).
[2] C.E. Mungan, "An elementary introduction to driven damped oscillators," Resonance 27, 1033 (2022).
