I would say look at the area under the curves
It should equal something like the energy
imparted upon the mass. If you get
too much area then its underdamped if
you get too little then its overdamped.
The area under the curve should represent a real
value relating somehow to the energy imparted
onto the mass by whatever means.
To deflect a mass upward by even a microinch
represents work against gravity.
The area should somehow match that by
indicating the work done and the process of
doing this would be called calibration.
Something from a science field called metrology.
A combination of voltage and current and time.
Motion and time and energy expended.
tiny sampled measure of the Ever increasing Entropy.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: 
To: 
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 6:41 AM
Subject: Re: Could I be over Damped?


> In a message dated 2008/03/16, photon1@........... writes:
> 
>> Ted, see
>> http://www.jclahr.com/science/psn/damping/
>> here you can calculate the ratio
> 
> Hi Ted,
> 
>       If you put in 10 mm and 0.5 mm you get a damping ratio of 0.69, but 
> this applet is useful for doing rough calculations while setting up the system.
>       Note that for 0.7 critical damping you only get ONE second peak. If 
> you see two or more peaks, the damping is too low. If the trace never crosses 
> the line, the damping is too high. For a 1 mm overshoot it is 0.59 and for a 0.1 
> mm overshoot it is 0.82.
> 
>       Regards,
> 
>       Chris Chapman   
>
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