Physics307L F09:People/Osinski/Oscilloscope

Purpose
This lab exercise aims to introduce us into two things: Boleszek Osinski et. al. have reason to believe that they have accomplished these goals. Over the course of this lab
 * 1) The operation of a function generator and a digital oscilloscope
 * 2) Familiarization with digital note taking
 * 1) the differences between AC and DC coupling are addressed
 * 2) sine wave properties are measured and documented
 * 3) the nature of triggering is briefly explained and the specific triggering sources and functions of the oscilloscope are listed
 * 4) the fall time and time constant of the coupling capacitor in the oscilloscope are measured
 * 5) a short explanation of the FFT is provided along with a qualitative description of the results of using it during the lab exercise

All this can be found in the official lab report.

In Retrospect
Though I came to the lab with some general knowledge of scientific instruments I can now honestly say that my knowledge was anything but adequate. I didn't even known the basic meaning of triggering, other than the obvious tautology that triggering implies a start of something. The operation of the oscilloscope (i.e. setting the input gain, spacing and scale of partitions, trigger source, and using cursors) was foreign to me and now I feel like I can take on any old, or new, scope. I must say "this was a learning experience and now it's a knowing experience (since I intend to remember what I learned)".

I was asked to describe any changes that could be made to the lab to make it better. Really, I think the lab was well prepared and we were given ample time to prepare for it ourselves (by reading the procedure and about oscilloscopes, for example). I would say that a sturdier structure, or lab procedure, might have given some students more guidance for making correct measurements. But, we must realize that the world of practicing scientists is not one where every experiment is coherently laid out and checked for errors before one actually performs the experiment. Scientists more often than not make mistakes, and if this lab is to give us a taste of actual science then it can not do without individual blunders and stupid mistakes. So thank you for leaving us to try and figure stuff out ourselves, only to ask for help when we really can't figure it out. I would have liked to take on a more rigorous quantitative analysis of the RC circuit inside the scope, but, keeping in mind that this was only an introductory lab, I must say that I feel thoroughly introduced.