Abstract

Citation

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Shamim, S. (2023). 2009-Shamim-EtAl-Investigating viscous damping using a webcam. SIMIODE, QUBES Educational Resources. doi:10.25334/GRXE-SR80

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Description

Shamim, Sohaib,  Wasif Zia, and Muhammad Sabieh Anwar. 2009. Investigating viscous damping using a webcam. 12 pp.

See https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/10.1119/1.3298370 . Accessed 28 March 2023.

Abstract: We describe an experiment involving a mass oscillating in a viscous fluid and analyze overdamped, critically damped and underdamped regimes of harmonic motion. The mechanical oscillator is tracked using a simple webcam and an image processing algorithm records the position of the geometrical center as a function of time. Interesting information can be extracted from the displacement-time graphs, in particular for the underdamped case. For example, we use these oscillations to determine the viscosity of the fluid. Our mean value of 1.08 ±0.03 mPa s for distilled water is in good agreement with the accepted value at 20 degreesC. This experiment has been successfully employed in the freshman lab setting.