Oscillator energy dissipation

ID: oscillator-energy-dissipation

For the damped harmonic oscillator, the mechanical energy is the sum of kinetic energy and spring potential energy:
Thus is the power transferred out of the oscillator's mechanical energy. For , the rate vanishes instantaneously at a turning point, despite nonzero stored potential energy; it is not a constant loss per unit time. In eddy-current damping the loss becomes Joule heating. [ref]
For an underdamped response, advancing one oscillation period multiplies both displacement and velocity by , so . This exact cycle relation does not imply that instantaneous energy is a pure exponential function throughout each cycle.

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