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resonance

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ludvik

Structural
Aug 6, 2001
75
Just a basic question. In terms of an electrical circuit, what is resonance? Has is got something to do with the capacitors in a circuit? Is that anything like structural resonance in a beam or something? I am a structural engineer and I guess I'm just curious about what you electrical guys do.

mike
 
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There exists an analogy between electrical and mechanical systems. In terms of circuits, resonance can be defined as the oscillatory phenomenon that takes place at a defined frecuency causing voltages or currents much higher than expected. The resonant circuit needs at least one inductance and one capacitance connected in series or in parallel.
In mechanical systems Force is the product of Mass and the second derivate of Position and also the product of elastic constant of a Spring and the Position. In Electricity, Voltage is the product of the Inductance and the second derivative of the electric Ccharge and also the product of the Capacitance and the electric Charge. Voila the analogy
I hope this can help you Julian
 
In any circuit there is always some form of capacitance and inductance. Resonance occurs when the frequency through the circuit is such that the inductive reactance is equal to the capacitive reactance (Xl=Xc).
Depending on whether the capacitance and inductance are in series or parallel then the current at resonance will be a maximum or minimum and will be equal to the voltage / resistance. The reason for this being that Xl & Xc are in antiphase and cancel each other out leaving only the resistance to worry about.
The calculation for the resonant frequency of any given circuit is 1 / 2 pi sqr(LC). Where L is the inductance and C the capacitance.
 
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