The forced oscillations of a torsion spring pendulum excited by an external square-wave external torque are discussed. Two different ways of determining the steady-state response of the oscillator are described and compared. The behavior of this familiar mechanical system can help a student better understand why and how a LCR-circuit transfers a square-wave voltage from input to output with a distortion of its shape.
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© 2004 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2004
American Association of Physics Teachers
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