One property of these systems can be quantified by the logarithmic decrement.
One property of these systems can be quantified by the logarithmic decrement. In phase space, these systems trace out an ellipse in a clockwise fashion. Any system can be modeled as one of these systems by Taylor-expanding the potential energy about a minimum and truncating the result at the second term. When these systems lose energy in a "critical" fashion, their (*) Q-factor equals one-half. External forces can "drive" these systems, which can be "damped" when they lose energy over time. A restoring force proportional to minus the displacement describes these systems, according to Hooke's law. For 10 points, sinusoidal motion is characteristic of what systems exemplified by springs and pendulums?
One property of these systems can be quantified by the logarithmic decrement.
simple harmonic oscillators [or SHO; prompt on oscillators or springs or pendulums]