Oscillator circuit




An LC circuit can store electrical energy oscillating at its resonant frequency. A capacitor stores energy in the electric field between its plates, depending on the voltage across it, and an inductor stores energy in its magnetic field, depending on the current through it. If a charged capacitor is connected across an inductor, charge will start to flow through the inductor, building up a magnetic field around it, and reducing the voltage on the capacitor. Eventually all the charge on the capacitor will be gone and the voltage across it will reach zero. However, the current will continue, because inductors resist changes in current, and energy to keep it flowing is extracted from the magnetic field, which will begin to decline. The current will begin to charge the capacitor with a voltage of opposite polarity to its original charge. When the magnetic field is completely dissipated the current will stop and the charge will again be stored in the capacitor, with the opposite polarity as before. Then the cycle will begin again, with the current flowing in the opposite direction through the inductor. The charge flows back and forth between the plates of the capacitor, through the inductor. The energy oscillates back and forth between the capacitor and the inductor until internal resistance i.e. resistance of wire of inductor ,makes the oscillations die out. This is known as harmonic oscillator.  Its action  is similar to a pendulum swinging back and forth . This circuit is also called a tank circuit. The oscillation frequency is determined by the capacitance and inductance values used.