Lab 1: DC Circuits

Reading:
“The Art of Electronics”
Chapter 1 sections 1.1-1.11
Appendix A
Appendix C

Each laboratory bench is supplied with a workstation, a set of electronic components, an

oscilloscope and two digital multimeters (DMM). These components will be used to
construct and test circuits on the “bread board” of the workstation.

Using the breadboards

The DMM has a “continuity function” indicated by a diode symbol. You normally use this
feature to test sections of a circuit. It shows the voltage (in mV) between the two probes.
When the circuit is short circuit (no resistance) it shows zero volts and when it is open circuit
(no conduction) it shows the number ‘1’ on the left hand side (you will find this feature
useful in future labs). Use this feature to determine which holes on the breadboard are
connected to what. If you are unsure, ask the demonstrator for help in showing how the make
these tests.

BEFORE YOU TURN ON POWER TO THE WORKSTATION

Set the DMM to voltage or current measurement as desired before it is connected to
the circuit. In current mode the ammeter has no resistance and large voltages will
therefore kill it very quickly

When constructing a circuit on the breadboard:

 Try to build the circuit so that it looks like the circuit diagram.
 Let the signal flow in from the left and exit on the right.
 Use colour coding to help you follow the wiring (e.g. green for earth, red for +5V
supply). This will help when the circuits become more complicated.
1.1 Ohm’s Law
The first task in today’s lab is to verify that a resistor obeys Ohm’s law. (This task is
designed to give you some familiarity with the apparatus rather than to improve your
understanding)

Figure 1.1: Circuit for measurement of resistor’s I vs V

Use the variable power supply on the breadboard to hook up the circuit shown in figure
1.1. If you can’t find a 20k resistor, use a combination of values to make 20k Note:
voltages are measured across a section of circuit while current is measured through a section
of circuit. On a piece of graph paper, plot current vs voltage for this resistor and then for a
10k resistor. Use Ohm’s law to find the real value of the resistance in each case.

Effects of the instruments on your readings

Even in this simple example there are some important practical questions that arise.

A Qualitative View
In this experiment we are trying to measure the voltage across a resistor however this is
not where the measurement is being made! Does this matter? How would you change the
circuit to make the measurement more accurate? How accurate were the measurements that
were made with the old setting? Can you summarise this by saying what effect an ideal
voltmeter or ammeter should have on the circuit?

A Quantitative View
How large is the error for the 20k resistor? Which of the two arrangements is preferable?
Would you have drawn the same conclusion if the resistor’s value was 20M instead?

Non-linear devices: (Ohm’s law defied)

1.2 An incandescent lamp

Now perform the same measurement (I vs V) using a small lamp. Replace the resistor in
the circuit above with a lamp and use the bench supply for this section rather than the 15V
supply on the workstation. NOTE: Use the 10A scale on the DMM, do not exceed 4 volts
and make sure that the input voltage is turned down to zero before turning on the
workstation! Measuring the voltage only across the lamp (!) plot current vs voltage in your
lab book make a qualitative comparison to the graph that you obtained for the resistor.
 What is the resistance of the lamp? Is this a reasonable question? The lamp is made from
essentially the same material as the resistors, what accounts for the different behaviour of the
lamp?

1.3 The diode

Here is a second device that does not follow Ohm’s law: The diode (this is a
semiconductor device, don’t worry about how it works yet, we will get to that later). To
observe the I vs V characteristic of a diode requires a modification to the original circuit.
Hook up the circuit shown in Figure 1.2. The difference between this and the original circuit
is that you are now using Ohm’s law (via the variable resistor) to set the current flowing to
the diode and measure the voltage across it rather than the other way around! The 1k
resistor limits the current by providing a minimum resistance. Plot the I vs V curve on both a
log-linear and a Linear-Linear scale.

Figure 1.2: Circuit for measuring the V vs I characteristics of a diode.

(Diode: 1N4148, fast signal diode)

From the graph that you obtain from this exercise try to guess what would happen if you put
5V across the diode? (Don’t try it!)
1.4 Voltage Divider

Figure 1.3: Voltage Divider

Construct the voltage divider shown in figure 1.3. Apply V in = 15 volts (using the voltage
supplies from the breadboard). Measure the (open circuit) output voltage. Measure the short
circuit current (that means connecting the output directly to ground, but we need to measure
the current so run the current to ground via the DMM in ammeter setting). Now attach a
10k load to the circuit and see what happens to the output voltage.

From IShort Circuit and VOpen Circuit calculate the Thevenin equivalent circuit. Now build the
Thevenin equivalent circuit using the variable DC supply on the breadboard as the ideal
voltage source. Check that the open circuit voltage and short circuit current match those of
the voltage divider that you are now modelling. Then attach a 10k load, just as you did with
the original voltage divider. Does the voltage behave the same?

1.5 Oscilloscope

You will be using the oscilloscope (“scope”) in virtually every lab from now on so the
earlier that you become familiar with it the better. The workstation includes a function
generator that can be used to produce sinusoidal, triangular and square waves of varying
amplitude and frequency.

Using the connections available on the breadboard, connect the signal to the oscilloscope
using the BNC cable. Play with the scope’s sweep and trigger controls. Try the following:

 The vertical control. This controls the size of the trace or the “volts/div” of the screen
scale. The menu controls for this option give you the ability to step in find or coarse
steps, practice using this as it will help you later.

 The horizontal control. The controls the time per division on the horizontal axis.

 The trigger controls. Triggering means that the waveform is started in the trigger
position when it reaches a given voltage (set by the trigger level) and for a set slope
(rising or falling). Getting the scope to trigger properly is often tricky so take some
time to understand this function. When you think that you understand it, randomise
 the input and see if you can regain control. The setting to use here is the AUTO
setting, NORMAL, is by far the hardest method of triggering waveforms on a scope.

Using the Scope with the Function Generator

You are also supplied with two function generators, one the workstations and a
standalone device. They have different merits and you will have to become familiar with
both of them. Try the following exercises with both devices. Switch this function generator
on to square waves and use the scope to measure the rise time and fall time of the square
wave (defined as the time to pass from 90% to 10% of its full amplitude). An ideal square
wave will rise instantaneously, but when you have the scope properly set-up you will find
that this is not always the case.
What comes out of the function generator’s TTL connector? Look at this on one channel
while you look at the sine or square wave output on the other scope channel. Try to trigger
the scope on the sine wave. Now try to use the TTL connector to trigger the scope instead.
This will become very important when you want to measure phase shifts in future labs.
Put an offset on the output waveform from the function generator. Now see what happens
to the display when you use the AC/DC switch on the scope. The AC setting adds a capacitor
to the input channel that eliminates the DC component of an input signal, however the side
effects can be disastrous and it is important to know when this function can and cannot be
used. To see the difference look at a 50 Hz square wave on both settings. What do you see?
Try the sweep function. How do you trigger on the start of a sweep?
Try some of the different features of these oscilloscopes. They offer automated tasks that
you might often perform on an oscilloscope. Try, for example, to use the “measure” function
to measure the period and frequency of an input signal.