A simple method to estimate Q for a damped oscillation

• Autores: Rod Cross
• Localización: The Physics Teacher, ISSN 0031-921X, Vol. 62, Nº. 5, 2024, págs. 406-406
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The coefficient of restitution is used to characterize the energy loss of a bouncing ball.1 When discussing damped oscillatory motion, the quality factor, Q, plays an analogous role. The quality factor, Q, of a damped oscillation is a measure of the energy loss per cycle, and can be calculated by plotting oscillator amplitude vs. time. An even simpler method is to count the number of observed cycles.