Date…………………………..

Experiment no: 05
Class: M.Sc 4th Semester Group………………………….
Roll no. 91 Sub……………………………..
Shift: Day Set……………………………...

TO STUDY THE DAMPED HARMONIC OSCILLATOR TO FIND DAMPING

CONSTANT, FREQUENCY UNDER DAMPING OVER DAMPING AND
CRITICAL DAMPING

Apparatus Required

Bread Board
Function Generators
Jumpers
Oscilloscope
Capacitors-inductor-resistor

Theory

An electronic oscillator, like its mechanical equivalent, has a natural or resonant

frequency  1 at which it tends to oscillate. A periodic driving force
LC
delivered at just this frequency will cause large oscillations. If the driving force is
delivered at any other frequency   R , the system will oscillate with reduced
amplitude at the frequency  of the driving force, not at its natural frequency. You
will investigate in this lab some important properties of the forced, damped
oscillator.
Figure shows a schematic diagram of a circuit with a resistor, capacitor, and
inductor which can be connected in series by closing switch S2 to form a damped LC
oscillator. When switch S2 is open and switch S1 is first closed, the capacitor is
connected to the voltage source, V, and charges through resistor R to this voltage.
When S1 is subsequently opened and S2 is closed, the voltage across the capacitor
decays back to zero but may oscillate while doing so, depending on the values of the
components.

A damped LC oscillator is equivalent to a damped mechanical oscillator formed

from a mass on a spring with a shock absorber. Both systems obey the same
differential equation, in the form of Eq. 1 for the charge on the capacitor in the
damped LC oscillator and Eq. 2 for its mechanical equivalent; only the symbols are
different.
d 2Q dQ Q
L 2 R   0             1
dt dt C
d 2x dx
M 2  b  kx  0              2 
dt dt

One can see from these equations that the inductance L takes the place of mass,
providing inertia to the system. The capacitance (1/C) , takes the place of the spring
constant k, supplying a restoring force. The resistance R substitutes for the
damping force b to resist motion, converting the kinetic energy of the conduction
electrons into heat. A solution of Equation (1) is an exponentially damped sine wave

   sin  t  
 
 t
Q  Q0e

With

2
1  R 
1
'    2 
2
 
 LC  2 L 

Where the parameter are

Q0 = charge at t =0 if   2

  2L R is the decay time or time for the envelope or exponential term to decrease
by 1/e

 2  1 LC where  is the resonant angular frequency of the undamped (R=0) LC

circuit. This shifts to  ' with damping

 =the phase of the signal, which describes where along the sine function the wave
starts at t =0

There are several properties of the damped oscillator that are important to know.
 The amplitude damps exponentially as time advances. After a certain amount
of time, the amplitude is halved. After the same amount of time, it is halved
again.
 The frequency is shifted.
  The oscillator can be (under)damped, critically damped, or overdamped.

Fig: LCR ( damped oscillator ) circuit diagram

Figure: Voltage decay of an LCR circuit

OBSERVATION AND CALCULATION

For,

L = 2.2 mH
C = 0.01  F
R = 40 
Neglecting internal resistance of sources,

 40 
2
1 R2 1
  2  
4  2.2  103 
3 6
LC 4 L 2.2  10  0.01  10 2

= 4.5  1010  8.2  107  4.49  1010

∴ 𝜔 = 2.11 × 105 𝑟𝑎𝑑/𝑠𝑒𝑐

Also
 𝑅 40
𝛼= =
2𝐿 2 × 2.2 × 10−3
∴ 𝛼 = 9.09 × 103

Experimental Observation

For underdamping condition, at R = 40 

Voltage ( V1) = (1.6 × 0.2)𝑉 = 0.32 V

∴ 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 ( 𝑉1 ) = (0.32 ± 0.04)𝑉

And Voltage ( V2) = (0.2 × 0.2 )𝑉 = 0.04𝑉

∴ 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 ( 𝑉2 ) = (0.04 ± 0.04)𝑉

And Time ( t1) = (0.4 × 50)𝜇𝑠 = 20𝜇𝑠

∴ 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒(𝑡1 ) = ( 2.0 ± 10)𝜇𝑠

Time ( t2) = (1.4 × 50)𝜇𝑠 = 70𝜇𝑠

∴ (𝑡2 ) = (70 ± 10)𝜇𝑠

Then,
2𝜋 2𝜋
𝜔𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝑡 − 𝑡 𝑖. 𝑒
2 1 𝑇
2
2𝜋
× 106 = 0.251 × 106 𝑟𝑎𝑑/𝑠𝑒𝑐
25

∴ 𝜔𝑒𝑥𝑝 = (0.251 ± 0.1) × 106

(2.51 ± 1.00) × 105 𝑟𝑎𝑑/𝑠𝑒𝑐

Also,
1 𝑉1
𝛼𝑒𝑥𝑝 = 𝑙𝑛 ( )
𝑡2 − 𝑡1 𝑉2

1 0.32
= 𝑙𝑛 ( )
50𝜇𝑠 0.04
𝛼𝑒𝑥𝑝 = 4.16 × 104

(4.16 ± 0.01) × 104

Result

The theoretical and experimental observation are

Damping Const(𝛼) 2.11 × 105 𝑟𝑎𝑑/𝑠𝑒𝑐 (2.51 ± 1.00) × 105 𝑟𝑎𝑑/𝑠𝑒𝑐

Frequency (𝜔) 9.09 × 108 (4.16 ± 0.01) × 104

Discussion

The harmonic oscillator equivalent of electronic circuit is LCR, we used square wave
as input which is transformed into sinusoidal wave and was damped under the
constraint of resistance into series. The value of resistance when increased from
40Ω 𝑡𝑜 327Ω the under damping condition turned into the critical damping on
further increment of resistance to 365Ω overdamping condition is attained

Precaution:

a) Join the circuit properly

b) To reduce noise we need to make connection between elements tight
c) The least count for voltage and times must be noted for each conditions.