Exercises 8 and 9 recall some facts about cubic polynomials that help explain certain facts about eigenvalues. Others realize immediately that this approach is hopelessly tedious and have no idea how to start. The dependent variables are voltage over the capacitor and the current. In most circuit theory texts, it is immediately converted into a second-order equation. This lab is meant to emphasize this point and to help our engineering students make the connection between our approach and what they are learning in their circuit theory class.
Some students have some difficulty separating external from restoring forces.
Also, some students identify anything that oscillates as a harmonic oscillator. On the other hand, some very clever models will be produced. A Baby Bottle Harmonic Oscillator Baby bottles are fairly foreign to the everyday life of most students in this course. The point of including the lab is that systems that can be modeled using the harmonic oscillator really do occur in unlikely places. Return to the Instructor's Manual Table of Contents.