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ERIC Number: EJ943454
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Oct
Pages: 3
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
EISSN: N/A
Decay Times and Quality Factors for a Resonance Apparatus
Stephens, Heather; Tam, Austin; Moloney, Michael
Physics Teacher, v49 n7 p421-423 Oct 2011
The commercial resonance demonstration apparatus shown in Fig. 1 exhibits curious behavior. It consists of three pairs of slender spring-steel rods attached to a horizontal bar. When one of the rods is pulled aside and released, the rod of corresponding length is excited into visible motion, but the other rods remain apparently stationary. This may seem surprising because there is no noticeable motion of the bar or the base. The effect is achieved because each length of rod has its own frequency, and all of the rods are very lightly damped. A very lightly damped rod responds quite strongly when excited at its resonant frequency but barely responds at other frequencies (Fig. 2).
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://scitation.aip.org/tpt
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A