BE154L – ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS FOR BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY

ACTIVITY 2 – FAMILIARIZATION OF COMPONENTS AND EQUIPMENTS

SALIGUMBA, KYLLE DENNICE S.

2018102685 – BE – 2
BE154L – A43

PART 1 – RESISTOR COLOR CODE

In this exercise you will practice “reading” and converting resistor color codes to their numeric
equivalent and vice-versa.
1) For each set of color bands, indicate the nominal resistance value based on the first three colors of the
color code and then use the fourth (tolerance) band to determine the minimum and maximum value of
each.
2) In the problems where the numerical values are given, work “backwards” to determine the color
code. In general, use the closest favored metric abbreviation to report your answer. Tolerances: Red =
2%; Gold = 5%; Silver = 10%; No color or fourth band = 20%.

Color Band Tolerance Nominal Minimum Maximum

Resistance Value Value
Value
Example: Red , Blue, Red, 2.60k 2.47k 2.73k
Gold
1. Red, Yellow, Red 20% 2.40k 1.92k 2.88k
2. Blue, Brown, Orange, 5% 61k 57.950 k 64.050 k
Gold
3. Green, Red, Brown 20% 520 416 624
4. Gray, Green, Black, 10% 85 76.5 93.5
Silver
5. Green, Red, Silver 20% 5.2d 4.16d 6.24d

6. Blue, Brown, Red, 10% 6.1k 5.49k 6.71k

Silver
7. Red, Blue, Gold 20% 2.6 2.08 3.12
8. Brown, Red, Brown 20% 120 m 96 m 144 m
9. Brown, Brown, Brown 20% 110 88 132
10. Green, Violet, Orange 20% 57k 45.600k 68.400k
11. Yellow, Orange, Black 20% 43 34.4 51.6

12. Blue, Grey, Red 20% 6.8 k 5.44  8.16 k

13. Yellow, Brown, Red 20% 4.1k 3.280k 4.920k
 BE154L – ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS FOR BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY
ACTIVITY 2 – FAMILIARIZATION OF COMPONENTS AND EQUIPMENTS

14. Blue, Red, Silver, Gold 5% 6.2d 5.89d 6.51d

15. Brown, Black, Black, 5% 10 9.5 10.5

Gold

PART 2 – MULTIMETER
Read and answer each question/scenario
1. What will this voltmeter register when connected to a battery as shown (assume a battery
voltage of 6 volts)? Explain your answer.

Assuming that the voltage of the battery is 6 volts, the voltmeter will not read the battery
when the both probes are not touching/connected to the battery. The probes are connected in the
voltmeter in a right way – the red dictates what to measure – the red probe is connected in V/Ω
which is correct when reading Voltage (the other connection is A for measuring current). However,
the black probe (for negative terminal) is not connected to the battery thus no voltage is read by the
voltmeter. Voltmeter measures the voltage difference from two different points.

2. What will this voltmeter register when connected to a battery as shown (assume a battery
voltage of 6 volts)? Explain your answer.

1. IfAssuming
we were to connect
that a voltmeter
the voltage of thedirectly
batterytois an ohmmeter,
6 volts, what would
the voltmeter will you
readexpect to see
-6V. The the
probes
ohmmeter register, for resistance
voltmeter between
in a rightits test– leads?
are connected in the way the red dictates what to measure – the red probe is
connected in V/Ω which is correct when reading Voltage (the other connection is A for measuring
current). Connecting to battery is an example of a direct current type which is represented by the V
with two parallel lines to which the bottom is a broken line. The probes are connected right in the
voltmeter but not in the Battery. Connecting to opposite polarity will cause negative reading but with
the same voltage. This will not damage the voltmeter and helpful in determining polarity.
 BE154L – ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS FOR BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY
ACTIVITY 2 – FAMILIARIZATION OF COMPONENTS AND EQUIPMENTS

The ohmmeter will measure a high resistance from the voltmeter. When the voltmeter is
connected to the circuit/component to measure the voltage difference between two points, it
should not alter nor change any amount of current flowing through thus, having a very high
resistance would prevent the voltmeter to attract current to it.

3. Many electronic circuits use what is called a split or a dual power supply:

Determine what a digital voltmeter would indicate if connected between the following points:
a) Red lead on A”, black lead on ground
b) Red lead on “B”, black lead on ground
c) Red lead on B”, black lead on “B”
d) Red lead on “B”, black lead on A”

Red Lead on A”, black lead on the ground will result to 15V
Red Lead on “B”, black lead on ground will result to -15V (B is connected on the negative terminal of
the battery thus connecting to red probe will measure negative value of voltage)
Red Lead on B”, black lead on “B” will not read any voltage (there is no potential difference in the
between the area of the B)
Red lead on “B”, black lead on A will read -30 V (same with the second scenario, B is connected on
4. Determine what these four voltmeters (A, B, C, D) will register when connected to this
the negative terminal battery while A is on the positive thus, red probe should be connected to A or
circuit in the following positions (assume a battery voltage of 6 volts):
else negative value of the voltage is measured.)
 BE154L – ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS FOR BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY
ACTIVITY 2 – FAMILIARIZATION OF COMPONENTS AND EQUIPMENTS

• Voltmeter A = 0V (the open switch will prevent the flow to point A)

• Voltmeter B = 6V (Potential difference between the red probe to black is 6 due to
open circuit thus)
• Voltmeter C = 6V (The red measures 6V while the black is zero thus, the difference
is 6V)
• Voltmeter D = 0v (There is no different points to measure where the D area is 0V)

PART 3 – CAPACITOR
What the video on the link:
Answer the following question.
1. Identify 3 types of capacitors, and list at least 2 of their characteristics.

Non-electrolytic capacitor – no polarity, non-electrolytic and usually have small capacitance ranges
from micro-Farad to nano-Farad types of capacitors.

Electrolytic Capacitor – have large capacitance ranging from 1uF to 5000uF, with polarity and have
significant leakage current (usually happens when unintentional electrical connection occurs)

Tantalum Capacitor – are small, with polarity, expensive and made of tantalum instead of aluminum
capacitor.

2. Why should capacitor be discharged before testing with a multimeter?

A capacitor carries and store an amount of voltages that could result to casualty. Without
proper discharging of the capacitor or not discharging at all, it could leak when connected to a
multimeter. High voltage capacitors are advisable to have wire connected to the terminals after
discharging.
 BE154L – ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS FOR BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY
ACTIVITY 2 – FAMILIARIZATION OF COMPONENTS AND EQUIPMENTS

3. How is testing of non-polarized to polarized capacitor differ?

Polarized capacitors are measured with polarity as positive and negative terminals.
On the other hand, the value of a non-polarized electrolytic capacitor can be tested
accurately with polarity in either direction. However, when testing the non-polarized
electrolytic capacitor for leakage you must test it in both directions.

4. A capacitor has a label on it saying, “100 WVDC”. What does this label mean? What
is the consequence of exceeding this rating?

100 WVDC means that the capacitor’s maximum working voltage or the maximum voltage
that could pass the capacitor is 100 volts in DC. Exceeding to 100V would damage the capacitor and
could cause danger.

5. A 10 μF capacitor is charged to a voltage of 20 volts. How many coulombs of electric

charge are stored in this capacitor?

Electric charge in a capacitor = (capacitance of the capacitor x voltage across the terminals)

10 μF x 20V = 200 C

PART 4- OSCILLOSCOPE
The figure shows a sample oscilloscope

Horizontal Controls
 BE154L – ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS FOR BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY
ACTIVITY 2 – FAMILIARIZATION OF COMPONENTS AND EQUIPMENTS

Autoset

Trigger Controls

Describe what does the following controls of the oscilloscope do.

VERTICAL CONTROLS -  Used to position and scale the waveform vertically, set the input
coupling, and adjust other signal conditioning
 POSITION – Allows to move the waveform up and down to obtain the desired position of the
waveform from the monitor.

 SCALE(Volts per Division) – scaling factor that changes the size of the waveform on the
monitor. Volts per division means that for a specific voltage (e.g 6V), the voltage is represented
by eight divisions (eight vertical divisions represents 5 volts).

 BANDWIDTH LIMIT – Bandwidth is the range of frequencies in a band. Thus, bandwidth limit
is limiting bandwidth of the oscilloscope to reduce the noise gathered and high frequency signal
content for a clearer data.

 INPUT COUPLING – Coupling refers to the method used to connect an electrical signal from
one circuit to another. In this case, the input coupling is the connection from your test circuit to
the oscilloscope.

o DC COUPLING – DC coupling allows all of an input signal. 

o AC COUPLING – AC coupling blocks the DC component of a signal so that you see the
waveform centered around zero volts.

o GROUND COUPLING -  disconnects the input signal from the vertical system, which
lets you see where zero volts is located on the screen. Horizontal lines depict zero volts.
 BE154L – ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS FOR BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY
ACTIVITY 2 – FAMILIARIZATION OF COMPONENTS AND EQUIPMENTS

HORIZONTAL CONTROLS

 POSITION – Same with the vertical control, the position control will move the view of the
waveform however in horizontal, the view is moved from left to right.

 SCALE(Seconds per Division) – select the rate at which the waveform is drawn across the screen.
If the setting is 1 ms, each horizontal division represents 1 ms and the total screen width
represents 10 ms, or ten divisions. Compared to volts/div the sec/div allows variable timing.

AUTOSET – measure the input signals that are fed into the oscilloscope and will find some range that
the signal falls into and then display it on the oscilloscope so that the signal can be viewed by the user. In
this way, the Autoset button acts as an "autoranger" in that it finds a range that the signal falls into and
traces it on the screen so that one can see at least some part of the signal on the oscilloscope.

TRIGGER CONTROLS - synchronizes the horizontal sweep at the correct point of the signal. 

 SOURCE – oscillators doesn’t necessary need trigger to display a signal. But any input, extra
source or other signal, to an input channel or channels is enough.

 LEVEL – while the slope determines the rise and fall of the trigger signal, level determines where
on the edge the trigger point occurs.

 SLOPE – determines where the trigger point is rising (positive slope) or falling (negative slope)
on the edge of a signal
BE154L – ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS FOR BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY
ACTIVITY 2 – FAMILIARIZATION OF COMPONENTS AND EQUIPMENTS