PHYSICS 211L

Exp. 1: Basic Oscilloscope Operations

Grade:
Date: March 8, 2009
NAME: ALI ALAWIEH
PARTNERS NAME: KHODOR ABOU DAYA
SECTION NUMBER & NAME OF INSTRUCTOR: SECTION 5 LAMISS ZAIDOUNY
1. Data
Table 1: Amplitude Measurements
Amplitude control
Function Generator
Fully CW
- Way CW
- way CW
Fully CCW

CH1
VOLTS/DIV
5 V/Div
5 V/Div
5 V/Div
0.2 V/Div

Number of divisions
5.9 Div
3 Div
2.5 Div
7 Div

Peak to Peak
Voltage
29.5 V
15 V
7.5 V
1.4 V

Fully CW Square wave:

Fully CW Triangular wave:

Table 2: Frequency Measurements

Set the frequency using the frequency counter (counters are accurate to within about
10 parts per million)
Frequency of Frequency
Time/DIV
Number
Period
Frequency % of difference
Function
of
of
( # of divs * (from scope)
(1/T)
Generator
Counter
divisions
time/div)
100 Hz
100 Hz
4.9 div
102 Hz
2.0
2.00 kHz
2.00 kHz
2.5 div
2.00 kHz
0.0
40.0 kHz
40080 Hz
5 div
40.0 kHz
0.2
150 kHz
150863 Hz
3.4 div
147 kHz
2.5
1.30 MHz
1.26 MHz
4 div
1.25 MHz
0.8
Comment on the accuracy of the scope measurement.
According to the difference in frequencies that range between 0 % and 2 %
( Average = 1.1%) between the actual and measured frequency; this mean that the
oscilloscope is accurate and reliable in its measurement.

Describe what happens when you vary the trigger and when you press the +/-trigger
control. What is the use of the trigger on the oscilloscope?
When we vary the trigger value, the waveform displayed on the scope will move
on the screen until its stable at one point; therefore, the aim of the trigger is to stabilize
the displayed waveform to be able to study its characteristics.
When we press the +/- trigger, the waveform is inverted on the screen.
Table 3.
Wave form Unit: Sketch and Explanation
K1
3V

Upper branch (1st)

diode

110 V
R

Lower branch (2nd)

3V
diode

K2

oscillos cope

(a) K1 and K2 open

Sketch of Wave Form

+
Waveform of 1st branch + waveform of 2nd branch
The resulting waveform:

(b) K1 open and K2 closed

Sketch of Wave Form

In the first branch

In the second branch

These 2 added will give us the following waveform :

Explanation
In this case, K1 is open where K2 is open so no
current pass in the lower branch and a current
pass in the upper one through the diode. The
diode allow only positive current to pass and
since the initial current here is sinusoidal having a
negative and a positive part, the result is that only
the positive part passes through the diode, arrive
at the load and appear on the screen while the
negative part dont pass and appears as a zero
line.
Explanation
In This case where K1 is open and K2 is closed,
current will pass through the two branches of the
circuit. In the first branch only the positive half of
the sinusoidal current will be allowed to pass
through the diode and in the second branch the
positive part is only allowed to pass through the
diode, but the two waveforms as shown in the
figure have a pie difference in the phase angle so
the positive part of the current in the first branch
is negative in the second and vice versa. Thats
why the curve will look so due to the
superposition of the two at the level of the resistor
whose voltage is being displayed.

(c) K1 closed and K2 open

Sketch of Wave Form
Waveform of first branch:

Waveform of second branch:

Explanation
In this case we are having a short circuit on the
diode in the first branch so the current will pass
through the wire not the resistor since it has less
resistivity so the whole sinusoidal current will
pass to the resistor undistorted or changed as if
the resistor is directly connected to the generator.
However, the open switch K2 will allow no
current to pass through the second branch so the
only waveform displayed is that of first branch.

Resulting waveform across resistor:

(d) K1 and K2 closed

Sketch of Wave Form

Explanation

For closed K1, as before the current in the upper

branch will pass through the branch of lower
resistance that is through the wire not the diode;
therefore, the current waveform will arrive
undistorted at the level of the resistor.
Simultaneously, closing K2 will allow current to
pass through the lower branch but here through
Waveform of 2nd branch:
the diode that will allow only the positive part to
pass resulting in a waveform that is positive in
half period and null in the other half.
However, the phase difference between the
current of the two branches is pie () so the
superposition of the two currents at the level of
resistor will result in the shown waveform since
The resulting waveform across the resistor is:
by the time the 1st branchs current is positive that
of 2nd branch is null resulting in a positive
waveform. At the other half of period, the 1st
branchs current is negative and that of 2nd is
positive resulting in approximately zero since the
two waveforms come from identical origin.
What is noted here is that the null line is just
below the graticule line even if the two currents
Waveform of the 1st branch:

carry equal voltage, the reason for that is that the

diode requires an activation voltage that it takes
for itself and reduce the voltage thats why the
superposition is less than what is expected.
Note: We have referred to the previous waveform as a representation of both current and
voltage since it measures the voltage across the resistor and that is directly proportional to
the current (by ohms law (U=RI) so the waveform represents both across the resistor.
Table 3. X-Y Operation
Phase Measurements: 5 kHz
Phase angle

Phase shift unit

2A

2D

41.81

1.3

12.51

(Measured)

To get the phase angle we apply: sin=D/A that is =sin-1(D/A)

Table 4. X-Y Operation
Phase Measurements: 10 kHz
Phase angle

Phase shift unit

2A

2D

2.6

25.68

0.8

7.66

(Measured)

Work out the derivation steps between eq(1) and eq(2). What happens when =0 and
=90?

Before studying the two given cases (=0 or 90), its better
to rearrange the equation that we have reached in order for
not to encounter the problem of having zero in the
denominator:
5

We can hereby multiply by sin2 on both sides, this will give:

Then, we consider the first case:

1)