Physics307L:People/Cordova/Matt's Oscilloscope Lab Summary

My lab partner was Sebastian. The data for this lab can be found here. =Purpose=


 * Learn to read/use an oscilloscope
 * Become familiar with proper lab procedure.

=Safety=
 * No outstanding safety concerns.

=Equipment=


 * Tektronix TDS 1002 Two Channel Digital Storage Oscilloscope
 * Wavetek Power Supply - Model:181
 * BNC Cable

=Set Up= =Procedure=
 * Connect one end of the BNC cable into the Lo Voltage Out on the power supply, and the other into Channel 1 on the oscilloscope.
 * We made sure that the power supply was on the lowest voltage setting, and then continued to turn both devices on.
 * Basic Waveform Measurements
 * After making a connection between the source generator and the oscilloscope, we set the frequency to ~200 Hz.
 * We then set the oscilloscope to the sine wave function.
 * After setting the display to easy to read intervals of 1V per dash and 1ms per grid, the generator was set to ~2V to produce a nice looking function.
 * Triggering
 * We fiddled with the trigger menu on the oscilloscope, yielding some insight as to what triggering is.
 * If the trigger cursor is set outside the range of the incoming source, you no longer get a steady image. This leads me to believe that the 'trigger' traces the incoming signal and displays it as a steady image on the screen.
 * If you switch from 'rising/falling' on the trigger menu, the graph is shifted by half a period. This leads me to believe that you can tell the trigger where/when to start tracing the signal.
 * AC Coupling
 * When the oscilloscope is set to AC coupling, we have a graph that is symmetrical about V=0. I would assume AC coupling ignores any DC input, since DC current would offset the graph.
 * Following the procedure we were able to measure fall time from the graph which allowed us to calculate $$\tau$$.
 * $$\tau=T_{falltime}ln(10)$$
 * $$\tau=63.31*ln10=29.66$$