Physics 1140

Lab E1: Introduction to circuits

Introduction.
The purpose of the this lab is to introduce you to some basic instrumentation used
in electrical circuits. You will learn to use a DC power supply, a digital multimeter that
can measure current, resistance and voltage, and an oscilloscope that can measure DC and
AC voltages. DC (for ‘direct current’) means constant in time, and AC (for ‘alternating
current’) means time-varying, usually sinusoidal.

Equipment you will use

The DC power supply has three output terminals: plus (red), minus (black), and
ground (green). The internal circuitry of the power supply holds the (+) terminal at some
voltage higher than the (-) terminal, and this voltage difference can be adjusted with the
voltage knob and read on the voltage meter. The ground terminal (green) is always at 0
volts. The internal circuitry does not know or care whether the (-) or (+) terminals are at
zero volts; it only knows the difference between the (+) and (-) outputs. To make the (-)
terminal output voltage be 0 volts, the ground terminal and the (-) terminal must be
connected. In that case the (+) terminal is a positive voltage (>0). If the ground and (+)
terminals are connected, then the (+) terminal is at zero volts and the (-) terminal becomes
a negative voltage. When neither the (+) or (-) terminals are connected to ground, then the
supply is said to be floating, and you cannot easily tell the voltage of either (+) or (-)
relative to the ground connection.
Although the DC power supply used in this lab is a voltage source, it has both
voltage and current adjustment knobs. The current knob is used if you wish to limit the
current to some maximum value (for safety or other reasons). The voltage knob adjusts
the voltage, unless the voltage is so high that the current output exceeds the limit set by
the current knob, in which case turning up the voltage knob further will have no effect.
For this lab, you can leave the current-limit knob turned up fully(fully CW).

Digital Multimeter (DMM)

DC POWER SUPPLY

voltage knob DC AC
voltage A V

current-limit knob
current Ω F

20A µA/mA COM VΩ

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The hand-held digital multimeter (DMM) is a wonderful little device that can be
used to measure voltage and current (DC or AC), resistance, and capacitance. When
making any measurement, there are always 2 wires to the DMM. One of the two wires
always goes to the COM (common) terminal. To measure voltage or resistance, the
second wire lead is attached to the VΩ input. To measure current, the second wire is
attached to one of the two current inputs. For currents up to 2 A, use the µA/mA input, for
currents in the range 2 - 20A, use the 20A input. In this lab, all our measurements will be
DC, so the DC/AC switch (upper right) should always be in the DC position. The DMM
has an alarm; it sings if you have wires plugged into positions which conflict with the
central knob’s position. (For instance, if you have the wires in COM and VΩ, but have
the center knob in the amps quadrant.)

When measuring a resistance with a DMM, you must

DMM disconnect the source of the resistance (be it single resistor or
some combination of resistors) from any other devices, such as
resistor
power supplies. Never try to measure the resistance of a
resistor while it is in a circuit.

The oscilloscope is a device that displays a graph of voltage vs. time (voltage on
the vertical axis, time on the horizontal axis). If the voltage is DC, that is, constant in
time, then the oscilloscope display is a horizontal line, whose vertical position indicates
the voltage. Your TA will introduce you to the use of the oscilloscope. The oscilloscope
screen has 1 cm divisions on both axes. There is a volts per division (volts/div) knob that
sets the vertical (volts) scale and a seconds per division (sec/div) knob that sets the
horizontal (time) scale. There are knobs for setting the vertical and horizontal position of
the display. Under the volts/div knob is a 3-position switch which reads (AC - ground -
DC). In the ground position, the input to the oscilloscope is grounded (set to 0 volts), and
the display becomes a horizontal line whose position (which can be adjusted with the
vertical position knob) is the zero volts position. For instance, one could set the middle
line of the screen to be 0 volts. Then positions above the middle would be positive
voltages, and positions below the middle would be negative voltages. When the switch is
in the DC position, the signal is input to the oscilloscope unaltered. When the switch is in
the AC position, an internal capacitor is in series with the input to the oscilloscope, and
the DC component of the signal is removed. There is small knob in the center of both the
volts/div and time/div knobs, called the CAL or calibration knob. This should always be
in the fully CW position in order for the volt/div and sec/div scale settings to be correct.
Electrical connections to the oscilloscope are made through a special kind of
connector called a BNC connector. The BNC connector is used with coaxial cables (coax,
for short). Coax cables have a central wire carrying the signal voltage and an outer
cylindrical conductor that is usually grounded (0 volts). The outer conductor on the BNC
connector on an oscilloscope is always grounded, and it is important to remember that the
outer wire of a coax cable is always at zero volts when it is connected to an oscilloscope.
There are special adapter connectors for attaching coax cables to banana-plug type
connectors. The ground side of a double banana plug always has a little plastic tab,
indicating which banana plug is at ground.

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coaxial cable

BNC connector

Oscilloscope Front Panel

POSITION POSITION POSITION

CH.1 VOLTS/DIV CH.2 VOLTS/DIV SEC/DIV

CAL CAL CAL

AC DC AC DC
GND GND

BNC connectors

Part I. IV characteristic of a light bulb.

We will measure voltage vs. current of a light bulb filament, and use these data to
compute the resistance of the filament. The relation between voltage, current, and
resistance is Ohm's Law: V = IR . Ohm’s Law can always be used to compute the
V
resistance R = ; but only in the special case of an ohmic resistor is voltage proportional
I
to the current so that the resistance is independent of current or voltage. A plot of V vs. I
for a ohmic resistor is a straight line which passes through the origin and whose slope is R.
V The curve of V vs. I is called an IV
characteristic.
A light bulb filament is not ohmic;
slope = V/I = R its V vs. I curve is not a straight line. As
the filament current increases, the
I filament gets hot and as it gets hotter, its
resistance increases, resulting in a very
IV curve for an non-linear IV characteristic.
ohmic resistor

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Begin by hooking up the power supply, the light bulb, the digital multimeter
(DMM) and the oscilloscope as shown below. We will use the oscilloscope to read the
voltage drop across the filament and the DMM to read the current through the filament.
Note that the ammeter is in series with the filament, while the voltmeter is in parallel with
the filament. An ideal ammeter has zero resistance so that it does not impede the flow of
the measured current. An ideal voltmeter has infinite resistance so that it does not draw
any current from the circuit it is probing. Our oscilloscope has an input resistance of
1MΩ, high enough not to affect most circuits.

Schematic ammeter (DMM)

Voltage
Source resistance voltmeter
(adjustable) (filament) V (oscilloscope)

ground

DC power supply DMM

light bulb

com
- gnd + oscilloscope

volt/div sec/div

gnd tab
Physical Layout
coax cable

Double check your wiring before turning on the DC power supply. Start with the
voltage knob turned all the way down (fully CCW) and the current limit knob turned up
(fully CW). Then adjust the current with the voltage knob. Slowly turn up the voltage
while watching the current rise until the light bulb begins to glow. Play with the circuit a
while until you are comfortable with everything. Then take measurements of current and
voltage for several voltages. Take at least 20 data points, covering the whole range. (You
can take date quickly by setting the voltage to some easy-to-read round number on the

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oscilloscope screen and then read the current from the DMM.) At the very high currents,
when the light bulb is very bright, take the data as quickly as possible to preserve the light
bulbs. They burn out quickly at the maximum current. For the high current data points,
turn up the current, quickly note the current and voltage, and then immediately turn the
current back down, until you are ready for the next point.
For each data point, adjust the scales on the DMM and the oscilloscope to give
maximum precision in your reading. For instance, in using the oscilloscope, use the gnd
switch to set the zero volts level at the bottom line on the screen. Then adjust the volts/div
knob to make the signal cover as much of the height of the screen as possible.
For each of your measured IV points, compute resistance R = V/I and power
P = IV . [Don’t do this by hand! Use Mathcad to compute all the points at once. You
know.... after entering your values for Vi and Ii , then define R i : = Vi / I i , etc.] Make
plots of V vs. I, R vs. I, and P vs. I. Make two versions of the P vs. I plot: an ordinary plot
with both scales linear and a semi-log plot with a log scale on the P axis. In Mathcad, use
the X-Y PLOT, FORMAT menu to set the y-axis to a log scale. From your data,
determine the resistance of the light bulb filament when it is cold and when it is very hot.
What is the maximum power dissipated in the light bulb?
Also, measure the resistance of the cold light bulb filament directly with DMM. Is
the DMM measurement consistent with your other data?

Part 2. Measurement of the frequency of an periodic signal

At each lab position there is a photodiode attached to a BNC connector. A
photodiode produces a small voltage when exposed to light. You will also be given a
device that produces a periodic light signal with some frequency f. Point the photodiode
at this device. You should see a periodic signal on the oscilloscope screen. Play with the
volts/div knob and the sec/div knob to see how these knobs change the display. Also,
observe what happens as you cover the photodiode with your hand. Measure the period T
of the signal (period = time for one complete cycle of a periodic signal). The best way to
do this is to adjust the sec/div knob to get several complete cycles on the screen. Measure
the time for the several cycles and divide by the number of cycles to get the period. From
the period, compute the frequency f (f=1/T).
Line voltage, which is the voltage coming out of a wall socket, is an AC voltage
with a frequency of 60 Hz, and an amplitude of 120V rms. How does the frequency of
the device compare 60Hz? Can you explain why?

Part 3: Construction of a circuit.

In week 2 of this lab, you will be given a circuit to build and an experimental goal.

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Pre-lab Questions
1. The resistance of all metals increases with temperature. At low temperatures
(room temperature and below), the resistance is nearly independent of temperature.
But at higher temperatures, the resistance R is roughly proportional to the
temperature, R ∝ T , where T is the temperature in Kelvin. A light bulb filament
is made of tungsten metal. Knowing these things, make a qualitative sketch of
the resistance of a light bulb filament as a function of current. On the same graph,
plot R vs. I for an ohmic resistor. (Qualitative sketch only; no numbers!)

2. Describe a coaxial cable with a picture. Which conductor on a coaxial cable is

usually the ground (0 volts)?

3. How would you hook up a DC power supply to produce a negative voltage output?
Draw a picture to make your answer clear.

4. Make a simple sketch showing how you would hook wires between an ohmmeter
and two resistors R1 and R2 in order to measure the resistance of the two resistors
in series.

5. What are the formulas for the total resistance of two resistors R1 and R2 in series
and in parallel? (Look up the answer in your physics text, if you do not know.)
Consider two resistors with resistances R1 = 100Ω and R2 = 200Ω. Compute the
resistance of these two resistors in series and in parallel. Show your work!

6. Suppose you connected two resistors in parallel to a DC power supply so that there
is a voltage across the two resistors R1 and R2. Now suppose you wish to measure
the current coming out of the power supply, using the DMM. Make a sketch
showing how you would connect the power supply, the two resistors, and the
DMM to make the desired measurement.

7. Suppose that you have the same circuit as in problem 6, except that now you wish
to use the DMM to measure the voltage across the two resistors, rather than the
current. Make a sketch showing how you would connect the DMM to the circuit
to make the desired measurement.

8. True or False: It is perfectly safe to stick your tongue into a light bulb socket that is
plugged into the wall.

9. True or False: the resistance of an ohmic resistor depends on the current in the
resistor during the measurement.

10. True or False: the voltage in the wall sockets in your home is 240 Volts, DC.

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