Meaning of an electronic circuit will oscillate?

[amaresh92]

i wonder if anyone can tell me the meaning of "The Barkhausen stability criterion is a condition to determine when an electronic circuit will oscillate."
in this what is the meaning of an electronic circuit will oscillate?

thanks

 

[f95toli]

Well, that the circuit acts as an oscillator; i.e. sustains oscillations (usually sinusoidal) and without any external signal coming in (although the circuit will of course still need to be powered).

 

[amaresh92]

Well, that the circuit acts as an oscillator; i.e. sustains oscillations (usually sinusoidal) and without any external signal coming in (although the circuit will of course still need to be powered).

i found that the oscillator means to maintain a constant frequency output,but my doubt is we are giving input which also has a constant frequency?then what's the use of this?
will you please elaborate your answer?
and as i read, i feel that in this circuit we are controlling the input by giving feedback to it and the amplifier still amplify the input to the same extent as before.is it true?

 

[f95toli]

The criterion tells you when a circuit will oscillate on its own, without any external frequency. When the criteria is met it is enough to power the circuit from e.g. a battery and it will still give the same frequency out.

Moreover, the frequency of the oscillation will only depend on the properties of the circuit (i.e. component values etc).