Modeling the amplitude and energy decay of a weakly damped harmonic oscillator using the energy dissipation rate and a simple trick

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Autori principali: Lelas, Karlo, Pezer, Robert
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Lelas, Karlo
Pezer, Robert
author_facet Lelas, Karlo
Pezer, Robert
contents We demonstrate how to derive the exponential decrease of amplitude and an excellent approximation of the energy decay of a weakly damped harmonic oscillator without solving the associated equation of motion and without insight into the analytical form of its solution. This is achieved using a basic understanding of the undamped harmonic oscillator and the connection between the damping force's power and the energy dissipation rate. The trick is adding the energy dissipation rates corresponding to two specific pairs of initial conditions with the same energy. In this way, we obtain a first-order differential equation from which we get the time-dependent amplitude and the energies corresponding to each pair of considered initial conditions. Comparing the results of our model to the exact solutions and energies yielded an excellent agreement. The physical concepts and mathematical techniques we employ are well-known to first-year undergraduates.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_18488
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Modeling the amplitude and energy decay of a weakly damped harmonic oscillator using the energy dissipation rate and a simple trick
Lelas, Karlo
Pezer, Robert
Classical Physics
We demonstrate how to derive the exponential decrease of amplitude and an excellent approximation of the energy decay of a weakly damped harmonic oscillator without solving the associated equation of motion and without insight into the analytical form of its solution. This is achieved using a basic understanding of the undamped harmonic oscillator and the connection between the damping force's power and the energy dissipation rate. The trick is adding the energy dissipation rates corresponding to two specific pairs of initial conditions with the same energy. In this way, we obtain a first-order differential equation from which we get the time-dependent amplitude and the energies corresponding to each pair of considered initial conditions. Comparing the results of our model to the exact solutions and energies yielded an excellent agreement. The physical concepts and mathematical techniques we employ are well-known to first-year undergraduates.
title Modeling the amplitude and energy decay of a weakly damped harmonic oscillator using the energy dissipation rate and a simple trick
topic Classical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.18488