Damping and Aerodynamic Drag

Abstract

The effects of damping and/or aerodynamic drag are addressed. We begin with linear damping. Much of the material deals with damped oscillators (mass–spring–dashpot systems), for which three cases are considered: (i) zero forcing, (ii) periodic forcing and (iii) arbitrary forcing. Illustrative examples include a simple test to find out when it s time to change the shock absorbers of your car. Finally, we consider the aerodynamic drag, specifically the free fall of a particle subject to gravity in the presence of air.