In an impractical scenario, where energy is conserved completely, oscillatory motion will continue forever. However, we know that in real life, energy cannot be conserved within the system like this due to frictional forces (more on this later) The total energy remains constant, interchanging between potential energy and kinetic energy repeatedly. If there is a friction force operating (which is more practical), then the magnitude. Work done by non-conservative forces will reduce the total energy in the of the oscillations gradually decreases with time system. The frequency of the oscillation remains constant. The angular frequency is given by w", which is different to the angular frequency w for the same system with no damping. If the constant b, is small, (aka light damping) then. In the case of light damping, the natural frequency of oscillation can be approximated as the same as that of the undamped system (insignificant damping)