Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-a-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/paper-2/section-a/3/solution

Choose positive electric current in the initial discharge direction, since the source diagram does not label the initial plate polarity or a current arrow. Let be the charge remaining on the initially positive plate, so . Kirchhoff's voltage law for the series RLC circuit gives
The natural angular frequency, damping coefficient and quality factor are
Since (equivalently ), this is an underdamped RLC response. With , satisfying the initial conditions gives
and differentiating gives
The electric current starts at zero with . Its wave period is , its zeros occur every , and its positive and negative wave envelopes decay with time constant . The first maximum obeys and is at . The electric current tends to zero as the initial capacitor energy is dissipated in the resistor.

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