Damped electromagnetic oscillation with Cobra SMARTsense

Principle

In this experiment, an oscillating circuit of capacitor and coil is examined. For this capacitor is charged, disconnected from the power supply unit and discharged via an inductor, whereby the voltage across the inductor is measured. By varying the capacitance and the coil core, the influence on the period duration is investigated and a damped oscillation is visualized.

Tasks

1. Investigate damped oscillations of different capacitors - with and without an iron core.
2. Analyze the oscillation curves, determine the period and establish relationships between the inductance of the coil, the capacitance of the capacitor and the determined period.

Learning objectives

Students should learn that a capacitor and a coil connected in series form an oscillating circuit that decays depending on the parameters of the components. The proportional relationship between the period duration and the inductance and capacitance is taught.

Advantages

• Simple setup in just a few minutes.
• High resolution data acquisition (up to 10 kHz).
• Improved media competence.
• Safe student power supply (RiSU-compliant).