Talk:Q factor

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Importance rating: petition to bump up

This article is rated "Low-importance." The importance scale states that importances of "High" are "Something an undergraduate physics major could have heard of or studied."

The Q factor is an important part of AC (RLC) circuits, which is a topic studied in undergraduate Electricity & Magnetism ^{[citation needed]}. Resukalt (talk) 03:44, 9 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Support: The harmonic oscillator is one of the most important basic concepts in physics. Every undergrad physics major is familiar with the Q factor of an oscillator, and probably students in many high school physics classes too. --Chetvorno^TALK 05:35, 9 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Support, Constant314 (talk) 22:45, 16 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I couldn't agree more. Oscillator and their properties are by far one of the most important and fundamental concepts in electronics.

Oscillator play a role in most digital electronics, wireless communication, audio synthesizers, function generators, radio. Just to scratch the surface. Modern technology wouldn't be possible without them.

To give such a basic property of something so ubiquitous and so vital to the modern world is short sighted and trivializes a very important property of an extremely important technology.

I would argue that the electronic oscillator is one of the greatest inventions of the modern era due to the versatility, and hence ubiquity of the technology.

Even the heating element on your stove is a type of very low frequency oscillator with pulse width modulation controlling the temperature.

Oscillators are almost as omnipresent as plastic. If you just look at a random piece of electronics, chances are there's an oscillator in it somewhere.

And to make all of those oscillators in all of these different technologies finction as the should, the people who designed all of these technologies would have made abundant use of q-factor, among other things. VoidHalo (talk) 22:41, 16 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Also, Q factor is not just a property of electronic oscillators. It is a property of harmonic oscillators, which is a unifying model used throughout physics, chemistry, mechanics, quantum mechanics, and every field of engineering. --Chetvorno^TALK 03:38, 17 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Excellent point.

I saw you mentioned harmonic oscillators above, but I was so focused on electronics, I thought you meant electronic harmonic oscillators, so I wanted to be more general to include all types of oscillators.

I forgot harmonic oscillator also refers to mechanical oscillators like the examples you mentioned. Among many more.

Thank you for pointing that out. VoidHalo (talk) 00:11, 27 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Reference [17]

Dear All, this is my first participation in the discussion. I hope I am writing in correct place. I would like to comment on this line and check if I am missing something before removing the reference: "The factors Q, damping ratio ζ, natural frequency ωN, attenuation rate α, and exponential time constant τ are related such that:[17]". The Q factor is discussed on pages 111 and 112 of [17]. However, the author of [17] does not discuss the relation between Q factor, damping and attenuation rate on these pages and anywhere in the book (or I cannot find it?). Moreover, when he discusses the two pole system on page 112, he does not show the transfer function cited on this wiki page (he shows some other similar function). Thus, I think reference [17] is erroneous. I am happy to provide screenshot if allowed. Please correct me if I am wrong. Best wishes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A00:23C8:9802:8901:B95E:216A:CB71:5B72 (talk) 18:01, 25 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]