The Laplace transform is employed to investigate the step response of the second-order system, with an R–L–C network employed as an example. Underdamped, critically damped, and overdamped cases are solved, and the damping factor and resonant frequency are identified. The impacts of damping factor on complex conjugate pole location, overshoot, and settling time are examined. A computer data bus example exposes the need for bus termination to achieve a sufficiently large damping factor. A simple MATLAB script implements the second-order transfer function and plots the response to a pulse train.