Energy of damped harmonic motion


Damped harmonic motion is a real oscillation, in which an object is hanging on a spring. Because of the existence of internal friction and air resistance, the system will over time experience a decrease in amplitude. The decrease of amplitude is due to the fact that the energy goes into thermal energy. Damped harmonic motion happens because the spring is not very efficient at storing and releasing energy so that the energy dies out. The damping force is proportional to the velocity of the object and is at the opposite direction of the motion so that the object slows down quickly. The loss of energy from the oscillating system to the environment is depended on the initial energy ,the mass of the oscillating system and the period of time.

Related formulas


EEnergy loss (J)
E0Initial energy (J)
cDamping coefficient (N*sec/m)
mMass of the oscillating system (kg)
tTime (sec)