Day 17 - Second Order Circuits Cont.

Topics Discussed

On day 17 of the ENGR 44 course, we further discussed the topic of second order circuits and how to analyze different elements within the circuit. We were introduced to new techniques and again did some practice problems. (Fig. 1)

Fig. 1

RLC Circuit Response Lab

In lab, we planned to investigate how another version of an RLC circuit would respond when an alternating voltage was applied to it. We calculated values for the theoretical natural frequency and oscillation frequencies. (Fig. 2) Once these values were found, we built the circuit. (Fig. 3)

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Summary
Despite some alteration to this circuit as opposed to previous RLC circuits, we were able to use the same methods to find several of the characteristics of the circuit, such as natural frequency, oscillation frequency, and whether the system could be considered critically, over-, or under-damped.