| damped harmonic motion [¦dampt har¦män·ik `mō·shǝn] PHYSICS 1. Also known as damped oscillation; damped vibration. 2. The linear motion of a particle subject both to an elastic restoring force proportional to its displacement and to a frictional force in the direction opposite to its motion and proportional to its speed. 3. A similar variation in a quantity analogous to the displacement of a particle, such as the charge on a capacitor in a simple series circuit containing a resistance. |