Damping in RLC Circuits

quality factor Q

0.1

This Demonstration shows the variation with time of the current I in a series RLC circuit (resistor, inductor, capacitor) in which the capacitor

C

is initially charged to a voltage

V

. The resonant frequency of the circuit is

f=

8

10

Hz

and the plotted normalized current is

I

2πfVC

. There are three types of behavior depending on the value of the quality factor

Q

: overdamping when

Q<1/2

(no oscillation); critical damping when

Q=1/2

, (no oscillation and the most rapid damping); and underdamping when

Q>1/2

(damped oscillations).