Band-pass filter 2026-10-13
A band-pass filter preferentially transmits signals within a range of frequencies and attenuates sufficiently lower and higher frequencies. Taking the output voltage across the resistor in a series RLC circuit gives one example: the resonant series RLC response selects a band around . [ref]
https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_22.html#Ch22-S7. Feynman lectures, II.22.7: resonant frequency filters
. Electrical impedance Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-20
Electrical impedance is the ratio of terminal electric potential difference and electric current phasors at one specified positive angular frequency . For an electrical circuit modeled as a linear time-invariant system, use the sinusoidal steady state after any decaying transient has settled. With the passive sign convention, positive electric current enters the terminal assigned positive electric potential difference. Define peak complex amplitudes byThe physical and are real; the complex numbers encode their amplitudes and wave phases. The unit of electrical impedance is the ohm, . Both phasors may instead use root mean square magnitudes, with the same ratio . A nonlinear diode can generate additional frequencies; a single then does not describe the whole response.
Write the electrical impedance in Cartesian and polar forms asHere is the resistive real part, the signed electrical reactance, and the voltage-minus-current phase difference, defined modulo a full turn. The Pythagorean theorem gives the modulus from a right triangle in the complex plane. The complex argument gives the rotation from the current phasor to the voltage phasor. Thus , while negative means electric current leads terminal electric potential difference. For , lies between and ; outside that case, use the quadrant of the complex number rather than a bare inverse tangent. The geometric magnitude and phase difference are the two pieces of the AC relation.[ref]
Multiplication by acts on phasors, not on instantaneous physical signals. For example, when ,The second term is in phase quadrature with electric current; it cannot be represented by pointwise multiplication when . This is the useful compression: one complex multiplication replaces separate amplitude and phase difference calculations, while the real part restores the physical signal.
An ideal resistor, inductor and capacitor have , and . Their electrical impedances add in a series RLC circuit, giving . The current amplitude is , so cancellation of the imaginary parts explains the resonant series RLC response. The component-law derivation and opposite complex exponential convention are in reactance phase convention.
Electrical reactance Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-20
Electrical reactance is the signed imaginary part of electrical impedance , measured in ohms. It describes the part of the terminal electric potential difference in phase quadrature with the electric current in a sinusoidal steady state. In the convention, an ideal inductor has and an ideal capacitor has for . A large reduces electric current at fixed applied voltage, but an ideal purely reactive component returns the energy it receives over each cycle. This is why electrical reactance and electrical resistance have the same units yet describe different physical behavior. [ref]
https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_22.html#Ch22-S5. Feynman, Leighton and Sands, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, II.22.5: resistance, reactance and energy loss
.In a series RLC circuit, electrical impedances add because the same electric current passes through every component. For ideal positive inductance , capacitance , and total electrical resistance ,Here is voltage wave phase minus current wave phase. Below , and electric current leads terminal voltage; above it, and electric current lags. At , the two signed electrical reactances cancel, leaving and the maximum electric current at fixed terminal voltage. This is the resonant series RLC response. Electrical resistance does not cancel: the toy circuit gives and there. These numbers follow directly from the stipulated component values. [ref]
University Physics Volume 2 by Samuel J. Ling and others. Ling, Moebs and Sanny, University Physics 2, §15.3: series impedance and resonance
.Cancellation concerns terminal voltage, not the disappearance of stored energy. In the toy circuit at resonance, the individual inductor and capacitor voltages are each in root mean square magnitude, with opposite wave phases, while their sum is zero. Their peak stored magnetic energy and capacitor energy are each , attained at different times. With smaller positive , either component voltage can exceed the applied voltage. This ability to select a frequency while sustaining internal energy exchange connects electrical reactance to tuning and frequency response.
For an ideal inductor or capacitor, the absorbed instantaneous power equals the rate of change of stored energy:Positive power stores energy; negative power returns it. Over a periodic steady state, each stored energy returns to its initial value, so its cycle-averaged absorbed power is zero. An ideal resistor instead has , transferring energy into Joule heating. More generally, the average terminal power of this series RLC circuit isZero average power in an ideal reactive component does not imply zero instantaneous power, zero electric current, or zero stored energy. Real coils and capacitors have losses, so zero ideal reactive loss is a model assumption rather than a claim about every component. [ref]
University Physics Volume 2 by Samuel J. Ling and others. Ling, Moebs and Sanny, University Physics 2, §15.4: instantaneous and average AC power
. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 2 5C c ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Every solution is the resonant series RLC response plus a solution of the homogeneous damped harmonic oscillator. Define and . The three possibilities areThese are respectively the underdamped RLC response, critically damped RLC response and overdamped RLC response. Both exponents in the last case are negative because . All three homogeneous contributions tend to zero as , so every response approaches the unique periodic steady current . No initial conditions were specified in this clause; they determine .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 2 5C c i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
First construct the periodic response required in the introductory clause. At , the terms cancel for a sinusoid, leaving . ThusThis resonant series RLC response dissipates energy through Joule heating. Over one period,The Q factor, using the maximum magnetic energy , is consequently
RLC circuit Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
An RLC circuit combines electrical resistance , inductance , and capacitance . The capacitor stores energy in its electric field; the inductor stores energy in its magnetic field. Their exchange can produce an oscillation, while Joule heating removes energy. A series RLC circuit gives a particularly clear example: changing turns ringing into a direct return to equilibrium, and changing or tunes a resonance.
These circuits connect two useful viewpoints. In time, they describe how stored energy is released after switching. In frequency, they select a range of signals: the resonant series RLC response explains radio tuning and simple filters. The same mathematics describes a damped harmonic oscillator, so insight about mechanical ringing transfers directly to an electrical circuit. [ref]
https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_23.html#Ch23-S3. Feynman lectures, I.23.3: electrical and mechanical resonance
; [ref]https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_22.html#Ch22-S7. Feynman lectures, II.22.7: frequency filters
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