Measuring the Q-factor of a series RLC circuit with a smartphone as a function generator

Abstract The use of smartphones as tools for teaching circuits has revolutionized the educational practice in this field. Free applications allow to measure the acoustic intensity with a smartphone and to generate an acoustic signal with a specific frequency. In this way, students turn their mobile devices into function generators and oscilloscopes, respectively, through the audio port. This innovation facilitates the implementation of hands-on experiments with basic circuits. This work implements a smartphone as a function generator connected to a series RLC circuit to obtain the average dissipated power and the corresponding Q -factor. A very good agreement is obtained between theoretical and experimental results.