MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Physics
8.02 Fall 2003
Experiment 15 Solutions: Free RLC Circuit

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MEASUREMENTS

Part 2: Free Oscillations of the LRC circuit

Question 1: Determine the period T of the oscillations of the LRC circuit. The period is twice the
time interval between successive zeroes. Calculate the frequency, f = 1 T , of these oscillations
and record your results here.

Answer: f observed = 526 Hz (1 Hz is one cycle per second).

Question 2: For small values of resistance, the oscillation frequency is approximately

( )
f  1 2π LC . For your circuit parameters, compute the expected value of f predicted and
compare it to your measured value. Do you expect your result to be greater, equal, or less than
the measured value?

Answer:
f predicted = 551 Hz, which is larger than what we observe, as we would expect, but not in accord with
the true formula. Using the full formula for the frequency only decreases the frequence to 548 Hz.
The difference between the predicted and observed is probably due to our imprecision in our
knowledge of L and C.

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 ω0 L ω0
Question 3: What is the quality of this circuit as predicted by the equation Q = = and
RT 2γ
Q
also the value of n = ?
π

Answers: Q predicted = 5.15 (trick question; what are the units of Q ? None, it is dimensionless.)
n predicted = 1.64
Question 4: Using your plot of current vs. time, estimate the number of cycles the current
oscillates until the exponential envelope of the current falls off by a factor of e −1 . How does your
estimate agree with your prediction?

Answer: nestimated = between 1 and 2, 1.5 is a reasonable estimate

Part 3: Observe the Energy in the RLC Circuit

Question 5: The circuit is losing energy most rapidly at times when the graph of total energy is
steepest and that these times occur at about the same times that the magnetic energy reaches a
local maximum. Briefly explain why.

Answer:

From the differential equation for an LRC circuit we can derive the energy conservation equation
d 1
 2 CV 2 + 12 LI 2  = − I 2 R. From this equation, we see that the total energy decreases most rapidly
dt
when the ohmic disspiation is at a maxium, which occurs when I is a maximum. At that same time, the
magnetic energy 1
2 LI 2 is at a maxium, since both of these terms are proportional to the square of
the current. So our total energy is decreasing most rapidly when the magnetic energy is at a maximum.

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