The characteristic impedance of a stretched string is , since its wave speed obeys . Put the endpoint at and use displacement complex amplitudes incident and reflected:
At the massless end, the string's transverse force balances the damper's force . Thus , or . This viscous termination of a stretched string has
Half the incident mean power is reflected when , giving two positive solutions:
They are approximately and , in . The smaller coefficient produces no reflected displacement-phase reversal; the larger produces a reversal. Both dissipate the remaining half of the incident power. Choosing the impedance-matched value would instead absorb all of it.