-Experiment 2-

THE CATHODE-RAY OSCILLOSCOPE

LISSAJOUS PATTERNS FOR COMPARING
FREQUENCIES AND MEASURING PHASE
ANGLES

Experiment Date Performed: 2/15/17

Lab Report Submitted: 2/22/2017

Introduction:
On this experiment an oscilloscope and a function generator would be used to create the basic concepts of
Lissajous. The Lissajous techniques would be used to find the vertical frequency which would be given
by the Lissajous patterns which are created in a certain horizontal frequency format. The same Lissajous
technique will be used to find the phase shift of a certain wave using the oscilloscope. By applying the
time-reciprocal method it will be possible to come into conclusion whether the calculated values are
correct by comparison.

Pre-Lab:
1. Given V1 and V2; the vertical deflection is 100 mV/cm; time scale sensitivity is 1000
microseconds/cm.

A. Find the peak and phase differences between V1 and V2

The max height of V1 is 2 cm by inspection and the max height for V2 is 1 cm. The peak
difference would be the difference in height between two of the curves.
100 m

V P =2 cm X =200 mV
1
cm
100m

V P =1 cm X =100 mV
2
cm

V P V P =100 mV
1 2

Peak difference = 100 mV

t
The phase difference is found by the given equation
= t
T , where is the

horizontal distance from the peak of V1 to the peak of V2. T is the period of the wave, which
is defined as horizontal distance time scale.

t ( 5.52.5 ) cm
= = X 360
T 10 cm

=108
B. What are the frequencies of V1 and V2?
 1
fz =
T ,
1
Therefor frequency for V1 will be V1 = T ,

T = period of the wave, which is defined as horizontal distance times time scale.

For V1, T, is found to be 10 cm

1000 s
T =10 cm X =0.01 s
cm

1 1
f V 1= =
T 10 X 1000 X 106

f V 1=100 Hz

1
Frequency for V2 = T , where T is the period of the wave, which is defined as horizontal

distance times time scale. For V2, T is found to be 10 cm.

1000 s
T =10 cm x
cm

T =.01 s
1
fV =
2
T
f V =100 Hz
2

C. Which signal leads the other?

V1 leads while V2 lags

2. Given the following Lissajous Pattern: Find the frequency of the signal applied to the vertical
plates if the frequency applied to the horizontal plate is 300 Hz.
f ver horizontaltangency points
=
f hor vertical tangency points

f ver 1
=
300 Hz 3
f ver =100 Hz
Part 1-
A. The signal generator was set up to an output to a sinusoidal voltage signal. The signal was shown in the
oscilloscope as a sin curve as intended.

1. After wards the signal generator is set to 1000 Hz while altering the curve to a position where it could
be easily read by the on screen graph. Afterwards the same frequency is calculated by using the
reciprocal-time method.

Time interval ( T =horizontal distance x time scale

Horizontal distance from peak to peak is = 5 cm
200 s
Time Scale = cm

1 1
f z= =
T 5 X 200 s X 106

f =1000 Hz

2. As the next steps the peak to peak value of the synodical wave was changed to 10 volts. The vertical
amplitude has to be 5 volts above and beyond the horizontal axis.

3. The Same voltage was measured by using the digital multi-meter.

The digital multi-meter indicated a different value which is not the max voltage but the effective
voltage reading.SO it had to be converted in order to get the max voltage by using the equation.
V max
V eff =
2
Reading from the multi-meter = 3.430 V
 V max
3.430 V =
2
V ma x =4.85 V , which is close to the expected max voltage of 5 V.

B. The oscilloscope is calibrated to find the frequency using the Lissajous method. As given in the manual the
horizontal input will be 60 Hz which will be created by the manual signal generator. The digital signal
generator was used to create various frequency inputs. Using the horizontal and the vertical inputs different
Lissajous patterns were created.

15 Hz vertical input, 60 Hz Horizontal input -

f ver horizontaltangency points

=
f hor vertical tangency points

15 Hz 1
=
60 Hz 4

30 Hz vertical input, 60 Hz Horizontal input

 f ver horizontaltangency points
=
f hor vertic al tangency points

30 Hz 1
=
60 Hz 2
60 Hz vertical input, 60 Hz Horizontal input

f ver horizontaltangency points

=
f hor vertical tangency points

60 Hz 1
=
60 Hz 1
120 Hz vertical input, 60 Hz Horizontal input -

f ver horizontaltangency points

=
f hor vertical tangency points

120 Hz 2
=
60 Hz 1

180 Hz vertical input, 60 Hz Horizontal input

f ver horizontaltangency points

=
f hor vertical tangency points
 180 Hz 3
=
60 Hz 1

240 Hz vertical input, 60 Hz Horizontal input

f ver horizontaltangency points

=
f hor vertical tangency points

240 Hz 4
=
60 Hz 1

300 Hz vertical input, 60 Hz Horizontal input -

 f ver horizontaltangency points
=
f hor vertical tangency points

300 Hz 5
=
60 Hz 1

C. By using the circuit below it was possible to measure the phase shift angle between the voltage across R and
the voltage source using the Lissajous Method and the Reciprocal- Time method. The voltage source will be
set to 1000 Hz. The time scale is 100 microseconds/cm.

R = 1000 ohms, C = .2 microfarads

t .96 cm 100 s
1. Time-Reciprocal method
= x x 360 from the graph.
T 10.00 cm 100 s
t
=34.56
T
2. Lissajous method
=sin1 ( AB )sin ( YX )
1

=sin1 ( 3.52 ) = 34.84

R = 2000 ohms, C = .1 microfarads

t .1 .014 cm 100 s
3. Time-Reciprocal method
= x x 360 from the graph.
T 10.00 cm 100 s
t
=36.39
T

4. Lissajous method
=sin1 ( AB )sin ( YX )
1

=sin1 ( 2.75
4.9 )
=34.14

R = 250 ohms, C = .5 microfarads

 t 1.49 cm 100 s
5. Time-Reciprocal method
= x x 360 from the graph.
T 10.00 cm 100 s
t
=53.64
T

6. Lissajous method
=sin1 ( AB )sin ( CD )
1

=sin1 ( 3.82 )=31.75

Conclusion
In this experiment two methods were used to find the frequency and the phase-shift angle. In the Part A the
frequency came up to be 1000 Hz in both of the calculated ways therefor it could be conceded that both of the
methods are valid. In the calculations for the phase shift there were many variances due to the lack of precision in
V max =4.85 V , value from the digital meter whereas the true value
the graphs. In part an it was possible to get
had to be 5V. The variations might have been caused by the internal resistance of the multi-meter and the
resistance of the wires that connected the multi-meter to the scope.
The experiment was a successful attempt. Through the experiment it was possible to calculate the phase angle for
the voltage across a resistor compared to a voltage source using the Time-reciprocal method and the Lissajous
method. Both of the calculation methods gave calculations which were close values. There were also two methods
for calculating the frequency, the time-reciprocal method and the Lissajous method. It was possible to obtain the
same frequency as the one set on the signal generator.