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Demonstrations

Yaakov Kraftmakher,

with an LCR Circuit

Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel

he LCR circuit is an important topic in the course of


electricity and magnetism. Papers in this field consider mainly the forced oscillations and resonance.l >
Our aim is to show how to demonstrate the free and selfexcited oscillations in an LCR circuit.

The setup
With an inexpensive oscilloscope, it is easy to demonstrate
free oscillations in a series LCR circuit. We use a Kenwood CS4025 model oscilloscope (Fig. 1). The LCR circuit consists of
an SOO-turn coil from PASCO scientific (SF-S611), a 100-nF
capacitor, and a variable 100-0 resistor; instead of the latter,
several fixed resistors can be used. The inductance of the coil
is 12 ml-l. The capacitor C is connected to the Y- input of the
oscilloscope. Rectangular electric pulses from the oscilloscope
intended for calibration purposes (100/120 Hz, 1 V peak-topeak) are used to initiate free oscillations. The source of the
pulses is connected to the LCR circuit through a capacitor C 1 =
1 nP. The capacitor C1 and the LCR circuit form a differentiating circuit, so short positive and negative electric pulses are
periodically applied to the capacitor C [Fig. 2(a)]. The impedance of the calibration output is much lower than the load
impedance.

losses in the capacitor, resistance of the source of rectangular


pulses, input resistance of the oscilloscope input, and losses
for radiation of electromagnetic waves. This resistance is not
shown in Fig. 2. In our case, y W02, so w is close to w00 The
oscillations decay exponentially; that is, the amplitudes of the
voltage on the capacitor C and of the current in the circuit are
proportional to exp( -"(t). The free oscillations are observed
on the oscilloscope screen for several values of C and of the
variable 100-0 resistor.

Free oscillations
The first demonstration shows changes in the frequency
and decay of the free oscillations caused by changing the parameters C and R. The frequency of undamped oscillations
in an LC circuit is Wo = (LCt'h.. Due to energy losses in the
circuit, the frequency of free oscillations w becomes lower: w2
= w02 - "(2, where "( = RI2L is called the decay constant. Here
the resistance R reflects all sources of the energy losses in the
circuit: the resistance of the coil L and of the resistor added,

Using magnetic or conducting core


In the second demonstration, a ferrite or an aluminum
rod is put inside the inductor L. With the ferrite rod, the frequency of free oscillations decreases, while the decay of the
oscillations becomes slower (Fig. 3). Due to the high magnetic
permeability of the ferrite, the magnetic flux through the coil
increases, so the inductance of the coil also increases.
With the aluminum rod, IS mm in diameter, the frequency
of free oscillations increases due to the decrease of the inductance of the coil. When a conductor is subjected to an external
ac magnetic field, eddy currents appear in it (Faraday's law).
These currents tend to reduce the magnetic field inside the
coil (Lenz's law). Therefore, the magnetic flux through the coil
decreases, so the inductance of the coil also decreases. The
magnetic field inside the conductor depends on the frequency
of the magnetic field and on the resistivity of the conductor.
This phenomenon is called the skin effect and can be used for
contactless measurements of resistivity of nonmagnetic conductors6,7 and for metal detection.f With the aluminum rod
inside the coil, the decay constant increases. An additional
energy loss arises due to the eddy currents in the rod. For the
ferrite rod, this effect is negligible due to the high resistivity of
the ferrite.

output of

(a)

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(b)

(c)

Fig. 2. Diagram of the setups: (a) basic LCR circuit; (b) LCR circuit
with feedback; (c) circuit for observing self-excited oscillations.
The resistance reflecting all energy losses in the circuit is not
shown.

Fig. 1. Photo of the setup.

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Self-excited

Fig. 3. Examples of free oscillations: (a) basic LCR circuit; (b) ferrite rod inside the
inductor; (c) aluminum rod
inside the inductor.

Fig. 4. Examples of oscillations with feedback: (a) positive feedback; (b) negative
feedback;
(c) self-excited
oscillations.

The feedback
The third experiment demonstrates positive or negative
feedback [Fig. 2(b)]. Now there is no need for the 100-Sl variable resistor. The oscilloscope has an output terminal from
one amplification channel (channel l ) and serves also as an
amplifier. The gain of the channel depends on the arranged
sensitivity. The maximum gain achieved with the sensitivity of 1 m VIdiv is 100; for 0.1 VIdiv, the gain becomes unity.
The voltage across the capacitor C is amplified and then fed,
through a variable resistor R [ = 5 kSl, to a coil L[ (feedback
coil) inductively coupled to the coil L. As the variable resistor,
we use a PASCO decade resistance box (PI-9588). A 400-turn
coil (PASCO SF-861O) serves as the feedback coil and is put
adjacent to the coil L. The current in the feedback coil L[ induces an emf in the coil L. It is easy to see that this emf is in
phase with or opposite to the current in the LCR circuit, thus
providing positive or negative feedback. The sign of the feedback depends on the polarity of the two coils. The feedback
enhances or reduces the decay constant of the free oscillations, while the oscillation frequency remains the same (Fig.
4). Therefore, it is easy to distinguish the changes in the decay
caused by the feedback and those due to the ferrite or aluminum rod inside the coil of the LCR circuit.

oscillations

The strength of the feedback depends on the distance


between the coils Land L t- on the amplification of the oscilloscope, and on the variable resistance R[. With positive
feedback, continuous self-excited oscillations are achievable.
For this demonstration, the calibration output is disconnected
from the LCR circuit [Fig. 2(c)].
For creating self-excited oscillations, the energy supplied
to the LCR circuit by the feedback should outweigh the energy
losses. In this case, the decay constant, becomes negative, so
the oscillation amplitude should exponentially and unlimitedly increase. Clearly, this is impossible. When the oscillation
amplitude increases, the amplification in the feedback circuit
unavoidably decreases because the output signal of the circuit is evidently limited. It is easy to demonstrate this effect
by positioning a pair of semiconductor diodes parallel to the
output of the oscilloscope. The diodes are put in parallel but
with opposite polarities. For high signals, the resistance of the
diodes decreases and their shunting action becomes stronger;
therefore, the signal in the feedback circuit decreases.
When the self-excited oscillations are achieved, their amplitude becomes out of scale of the oscilloscope. To see the
oscillations nevertheless, we use channel 2 of the oscilloscope
with properly set sensitivity. The capacitor C is connected to
both channels: channell provides the feedback, while channel2 serves for observing the voltage across the capacitor.
Intentionally, the inductor L and capacitor C were chosen to obtain the resonant frequency of the LCR circuit in
the audio range. To hear the oscillations, an audio amplifier
with a loudspeaker is connected to the output of the channell. With the PASCO 800- turn coil and C = 100 nF, the
resonant frequency is nearly 4.5 kHz. With the ferrite inside
the coil, it becomes nearly 2.5 kHz, and with the aluminum
rod nearly 5 kHz. The changes in the frequency thus become
audible for the audience. Since the rods inside the coil L lead
to changes in the decay constant, parameters of the feedback
circuit should be readjusted for maintaining the self-excited
oscillations. Instead of the variable resistor R i- a suitable lightdependent resistor (LDR) can be put in the feedback circuit.
In this case, the continuous oscillations are initiated by illuminating the LDR.
The experiments provide good opportunity to consider
some additional subjects (the magnetic permeability, the skin
effect, the feedback, the light-dependent resistor). Also, they
seem to be attractive topics for student projects. The self-oscillation amplitude strongly depends on the distance between
the coils Land Ll (or on the position of a magnetic core inside
the coils) or on the resistance of the LDR in the feedback circuit. This feature can be used for designing sensors of position
or illuminance.
Many thanks to the referee for useful suggestions.

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References
1.
2.

G. Chadha, "Using an X- Y plotter to illustrate electrical resonance in an LCR series circuit;' Phys. Educ. 21, 187-188 (1986).
V. Ramachandran, "Revisiting the LCR circuit;' Phys. Educ. 26,
318-321 (1991).

3.

Se-yuen Mak, "The RLC circuit and the determination


ductance;' Phys. Educ. 29,94-97 (1994).

4.

Philip Backman, Chester Murley, and P. J. Williams, "The


driven RLC circuit experiment;' Phys. Teach. 37,424-425 (Oct.
1999).

5.

Robert A. Morse, "Conceptualizing ideal circuit elements in the


AP Physics C syllabus;' Phys. Teach. 43, 540-543 (Dee. 2005).
Yaakov Kraftmakher, "Eddy currents: Contactless measurement of electrical resistivity;' Am. f. Phys. 68,375-379 (April
2000).

6.

7.

Yaakov Kraftmakher, "Contactless measurement of resistivity


with Data Studio," Am. f. Phys. 77, 953-955 (Oct. 2009).
Yaakov Kraftmakher, "Metal detection and the Theremin in the
classroom;' Phys. Educ. 40,167-171 (2005).

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of in-

Yaakov Kraftmakher is the author of more than 150 scientific papers


and of three books: Lecture Notes on Equilibrium Point Defects in Metals
(World Scientific, 2000), Modulation Calorimetry: Theory and Applications
(Springer, 2004), and Experiments and Demonstrations in Physics: Bar-lian
Physics Laboratory (World Scientific, 2007).
Department of Physics, Bar-lian University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel;
krafiy@mail.biu.ac.iI

The LCR Circuit with Battery model


simulates a resistor R, a capacitor C, and an inductor
L in series with a battery and plots the time dependence of the voltage drops across these elements.
Users can vary the circuit component values, can
toggle the battery voltage Vs between two values,
and can change the time resolution t:,.t.
www.compadre.org/OSP/items/detail.dm?ID=10586

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Related items can be found in the OSP Collection by


searching for "circuit" In particular, the LCR Circuit
with Function Generator model explores an LCR circuit in series with a sinusoidal or square-wave function generator.

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www.compadre.org/osp/items/detail.dm?ID=9469

These supplemental simulations for the preceding paper by Yaakov Kraftmakher have been approved by the
author and the TPT editor. Partial funding for the development of this model was obtained through NSF grant
DUE-0937731.

Wolfgang Christian

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