Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/paper-1/section-c/c10/solution
Past exam of the physics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 Section C C10 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
After switching, Kirchhoff's voltage law gives the free series RLC circuit equationIts characteristic roots are , whereA real, nonzero oscillation frequency requires . For a passive resistor,The endpoint is the undamped limit; strictly decaying oscillations have . The critical endpoint itself does not have a nonzero .
Let denote the initial electric charge, so and . Distinguish from the amplitude coefficient in an exponential-times-cosine representation: imposing zero initial electric current generally requires a nonzero phase.
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