Exploration of the Q Factor of a Parallel RLC Circuit*

RLC circuits are used for many applications in science and electronics. The Q factor is used to determine how much an oscillating system is damped; for a series RLC circuit Q is inversely proportional to the resistance but is found to be proportional to the resistance in a parallel RLC circuit. Here we explore this counterintuitive result and attempt to draw an analogy from the parallel RLC circuit to a damped-driven harmonic oscillator.