Physics307L F09:People/Joseph/Lab0

Oscilloscope Lab Summary
Summary

I learned about how to use an oscilloscope setup via computer. I made mistakes in the setup and learned how to fix them. I analyzed some (arbitrary) data using the tools I had available. Link to my notebook:

August 29 lab notebook

Descent

I recorded an average fall time of about 51 ms. I measured this by analyzing the time it took for the voltage to drop to 10%. This data was all gathered form the oscilloscope. I'm not sure what error bars are or how I would show them...

Enhancement

Everything I know about an oscilloscope I learned from that lab. I have an idea of how they work, what the measure, how they measure it, and how to manipulate the oscilloscope to get what you would like out of it. I still don't know all of the features of the oscilloscope, but I'm sure if I used them one more often, everything would fall into line.

Expedition

I played with the frequency and range quite a bit, and generated some very interesting oscillations that I showed to Devon. I don't remember exactly how I did it, but thats part of the fun about learning to use new devices.

Improvement

Making the lab better could be done in a few simple ways:
 * Standardize equipment. If everyone is using the same instruments, its easier to resolve issues between the students.
 * Let us set up everything. Everyone starting from the same line allows us to spend a  little more time figuring out how you'd set up the device.  I don't imagine in a real lab everything is set out and up for you.  Doing some of the initial grind work is often very beneficial.