Physics307L:People/Knockel/Notebook/070829

Oscilloscope lab

Basic Waveform Measurement

So I hooked up the oscilloscope to the function generator with a coaxial cable into channel 1 of the oscilloscope. The type of connectors used were BNC. I almost understand the function generator thanks to Lorenzo and Koch, and I get the screen on the oscilloscope to create some cool periodic functions.

I created a sine pulse at 200 Hz at about medium amplitude. The oscilloscope measured it to be 196 Hz and to have an amplitude of about 7 V. Changing the shape from a sine to different jagged periodic function didn't change the amplitude or frequency measured by the oscilloscope. Very low frequencies could be measured (down to .1 Hz), but high frequencies, once I zoomed in enough, created a jittery fuzzy curve. The stepwise function at high frequencies didn't create sharp bends. Maybe the crappy wire setup I had caused this. Also, at high amplitude, DC offset did not work in its full range because the function generator was maxing out.

Triggering

Triggering is how you can have the waveform on the screen of the oscilloscope always start at the same stage in the waveform's period. Triggering on a rising edge means that the waveform will always have a positive slope where the arrow on the top of the screen is.

AC coupling

I generated a square/stepwise wave at 8.6 V amplitude.