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On 4/25/14, 4:46 AM, Jim wrote:
I've heard of LC circuits being compared to pendulums. Is there kinetic
and potential energy involved? If so, which is kinetic, the Inductor?
Yes..
You can think of current flow as kinetic energy and charge as potential
energy. So in an LC circuit, the charge in the C starts to flow in the
L and then the charge moves back into the capacitor (with the opposite sign)
The choice of kinetic vs potential is arbitrary.. it's really that
you've got energy in one form (current in inductor as 1/2 L*I^2) turning
into another form (charge on cap as 1/2 C*V^2).
You could also think of it as water sloshing back and forth in a U
shaped tube (to follow the popular "electricty as hydraulics" model)
There's similar analogies for springs/masses and for acoustics: volumes
(C) vs long tubes (L)
IN fact, a great demonstration of coupled resonators is the "two
pendulums hanging from a broomstick across the back of two chairs"
experiment.