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Dashpot

damper which resists motion via viscous friction

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ3710326
Source-derived summary

A dashpot, also known as a damper, is a mechanical device that resists motion via viscous damping. The resulting force is proportional to the velocity, but acts in the opposite direction, slowing the motion and absorbing energy. Kinetic energy is converted to heat. It is commonly used in conjunction with a spring.

Types

The two most common types of dashpots are linear and rotary.

Linear dashpot

Linear dashpots — or linear dampers — are used to exert a force opposite to a translation movement. They are generally specified by stroke (amount of linear displacement) and damping coefficient (force per velocity).

Rotary dashpot

Similarly, rotary dashpots will tend to oppose any torque applied to them, in an amount proportional to their rotational speed. Their damping coefficients will usually be specified by torque per angular velocity. One can distinguish two kinds of viscous rotary dashpots:

Vane dashpots which have a limited angular range but provide a significant damping torque.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Dashpot” as damper which resists motion via viscous friction. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Dashpot, damper and resists.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current 157-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Dashpot, damper and resists providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3710326.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Dashpot” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.