Nyquist / Wien Bridge Oscillator Frequency Calculator

Inspectable records

Ledger state

The current ledger marks this instrument verified clean within the source-bound verification corpus.

Area

Electrical & Electronics Engineering — Circuits, Power Systems, Electronics Lab

Tranche

tranche-5

Evidence ID

t5-039

Ledger rows

1

No ledger note is attached.

Review findings

The empty honest_label is a concern. The product should explicitly state that it calculates the ideal symmetric-Wien frequency and nominal gain criterion, not guaranteed real-world oscillation. Exact ambiguity requiring review: the spec lists only R and C but does not state that both bridge resistors are equal to R and both bridge capacitors are equal to C; additionally, Av≥3 is ambiguous between startup and sustained operation.

Formula and scope findings

• f=1/(2πRC) is correct only for a symmetric Wien bridge in which the two series-arm resistors are equal to R and the two capacitors are equal to C. For a general Wien bridge, the formula is f=1/(2π√(R1R2C1C2)).
• Av≥3 is a startup threshold, not a complete sustained-oscillation condition. Ideal steady-state oscillation requires Av=3; Av>3 causes amplitude growth until nonlinear limiting occurs.
• The specification does not state that R and C are equal component values in the two bridge arms.

Unit assumptions

• R is entered in ohms (Ω), C is entered in farads (F), and the output frequency is in hertz (Hz).
• R and C are assumed to be the equal values for both corresponding Wien bridge arms.
• Av is a dimensionless voltage gain; the minimum nominal gain is 3 V/V.
• π is the mathematical constant approximately equal to 3.141592653589793.

Boundary hardening

BREAK_CLAIMED · SELF_FLAGGED

The formula produces an undefined result when R=0, so the instrument must explicitly reject zero-valued component inputs. Unit-prefix ambiguity can also produce a million-fold frequency error if kΩ and nF are stripped or misinterpreted.

Errata and corrections

No applied erratum is attached to this unique-name record.

Inspectable example

4 review vectors are recorded. One source-bound sample is shown below.

{
  "inputs": {
    "R_ohm": 10000,
    "C_F": 1e-8
  },
  "expected_outputs": {
    "f_Hz": 1591.549431,
    "required_min_gain": 3
  },
  "working": "RC = 10000 × 0.00000001 = 0.0001 s. 2πRC = 2 × 3.141592653589793 × 0.0001 = 0.0006283185307. f = 1 ÷ 0.0006283185307 = 1591.549431 Hz. Required minimum gain = 3."
}

Related workflows

No source-defined multi-instrument workflow membership is recorded.

Sources and evidence

These pointers bind the page to evidence. They do not grant authority or collapse verification into deployment.

• VERIFIED_LEDGER.json · VERIFIED_CLEAN
• evidence-tranche5/tranche5-results.json
• BOUNDARY_HAZARD_CATALOG.json