CIRCUITS 2 LABORATORY

EXPERIMENT 1: THE SINE WAVE

DISCUSSION:

THIS EXPERIMENT IS ABOUT THE SINE WAVE. A SINE WAVE IS THE SHAPE OF THE
WAVEFORM OF EMF PRODUCED BY AN ALTERNATOR AND THUS THE MAIN ELECTRICITY
SUPPLY OF SINUSOIDAL FORM. FOR THIS EXPERIMENT, WE OBSERVED AND STUDIED THE AC
SINUSOIDAL WAVEFORMS PRODUCED BY THE CIRCUITS WITH RESPECT TO THE FOLLOWING
PARAMETERS: AMPLITUDE, PERIOD, AND FREQUENCY. ONE COMPLETE SERIES OF A SINE
WAVE IS CALLED A CYCLE WHICH IS EQUAL TO 360 DEGREES, THE TIME TAKEN FOR AN
ALTERNATING SINE WAVE TO COMPLETE ONE CYCLE IS CALLED THE PERIOD OF THE
WAVEFORM. THE MEASURE FOR DESCRIBING THE ALTERNATING RATE OF AN AC VOLTAGE
OR CURRENT IS THE RATE OF THE BACK-AND-FORTH OSCILLATION CALLED FREQUENCY,
WHICH REPRESENTS THE NUMBER OF WAVE CYCLES COMPLETED DURING ONE SECOND OF
TIME.

THE EXPERIMENT IS MADE POSSIBLE USING THE LAB VOLT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION
OF THE CIRCUIT AND ITS CORRESPONDING SOFTWARE INSTALLED IN THE COMPUTER FOR
THE DISPLAY OF THE MEASURED VALUES AND WAVEFORMS PRODUCED BY THE GIVEN
CIRCUITS.

FOR THE FIRST PART OF THE EXPERIMENT WE CONSTRUCTED A SIMPLE AC SINE WAVE
CIRCUIT WITH A VOLTAGE OF 120 V, IN SERIES WITH A 300-OHM RESISTOR. SINCE THE GIVEN
CIRCUIT IS PURELY RESISTIVE, IT WAS EXPECTED THAT THE VOLTAGE AND CURRENT ARE TWO
SINUSOIDAL WAVEFORMS IN PHASE WITH EACH OTHER. IN STEP 9 OF THE PROCEDURE, WE
MADE A MISTAKE OF LOOKING AT THE WRONG VALUE DISPLAYED IN THE COMPUTER,
RECORDING THE WRONG VALUE FOR THE PEAK CURRENT WHICH LED TO A WRONG
COMPUTED VALUE FOR THE RMS CURRENT. WITH THE MISTAKE NOTED, THE GROUP LEARNED
THAT THE LARGEST VALUE REACHED IN A HALF CYCLE IS CALLED THE PEAK VALUE OR THE
AMPLITUDE OF THE WAVEFORM. AND THE EFFECTIVE VALUE OR THE ROOT MEAN SQUARE
(RMS) OF AN ALTERNATING CURRENT IS THE CURRENT WHICH WILL PRODUCE THE SAME
HEATING EFFECT AS AN EQUIVALENT DIRECT CURRENT. WITH THAT IN MIND, THE GROUP
LEARNED TO TAKE TIME AND BE VERY CAREFUL IN RECORDING THE MEASUREMENTS.

AT 225 DEGREES WE MEASURED THE APPROXIMATE AMPLITUDE OF THE VOLTAGE,

THE VALUE WAS IN NEGATIVE SINCE IT IS IN THE NEGATIVE HALF OF THE SINUSOIDAL
WAVEFORM. THE PROCESS WAS EASY WITH THE HELP OF THE APPLICATION IN THE
COMPUTER WHICH DISPLAYS THE POSITION OF THE CURSOR WITH RESPECT TO THE
WAVEFORM. BUT SINCE THE VALUES ARE APPROXIMATED THERE ARE STILL A FEW
DIFFERENCE IN VALUES COMPARED TO THE COMPUTED ONES.

FOR THE SECOND PART OF THE EXPERIMENT, A 120 V VOLTAGE IS IN SERIES WITH
TWO SERIES RESISTORS, 171 OHMS AND 300 OHMS RESPECTIVELY. THE RMS VOLTAGE OF
EACH WAVEFORMS WERE MEASURED AND THE RATIO OF THE VOLTAGES TO THE RESISTORS
WAS COMPARED WITH THE GROUP NOTING THAT THE RATIO OF THE VOLTAGE IS ALMOST
THE SAME AS THE RATIO OF THE RESISTORS. AFTER THAT THE VOLTAGE DROPS OF EACH
RESISTOR WAS COMPUTED AND AS WELL AS THE SOURCE CURRENT. ALL OF THE VALUES
COMPUTED CORRESPOND TO APPROXIMATELY THE SAME VALUES REFLECTED IN THE
SOFTWARE APPLICATION.

REFERENCE/S:

1. BIRD, JOHN (2003). “ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT THEORY AND TECHNOLOGY”. REVISED

SECOND EDITION. CHAPTER 14: ALTERNATING VOLTAGES AND CURRENTS. PAGE
193. ISDBN: 0 7506 5784 7
2. BOYLESTAD, ROBERT L., NASHELSKY, LOUIS (APRIL 30, 2012). “ELECTRONICS DEVICES
AND CIRCUIT THEORY”. 11TH EDITION. ISDBN: 978-0-13-262226-4.
3. “SINUSOIDAL WAVEFORMS”. RETRIEVED FROM: HTTPS://WWW.ELECTRONICS-
TUTORIALS.WS/ACCIRCUITS/SINUSOIDAL-WAVEFORM.HTML
4. “AC WAVEFORMS”. RETRIEVED FROM:
HTTPS://WWW.ALLABOUTCIRCUITS.COM/TEXTBOOK/ALTERNATING-
CURRENT/CHPT-1/AC-WAVEFORMS/