The Cathode Ray Oscilloscope

Experiment # 3
This experiment consists of two parts. The first part is an introduction to the Cathode Ray Oscilloscope
(CRO) itself. This part should be completed on the day of the first lab. The second part of the experiment
is to use the CRO to characterize an RC circuit.

PART 1:

The CRO is a valuable tool often used in many areas of science and industry. Its most important function is
the ability to measure voltages that vary in time. To fully characterize a voltage that varies in time using a
hand-held voltmeter, you would have to plot how the readings change with time on a graph. This is not
only time consuming, but impossible to do if the voltage changes too rapidly (for example, the voltage from
a wall socket changes sinusoidally from +115 V to –115 V and back to +115 V in 1/60th of a second). The
CRO plots the voltage on a screen and can track changes in a fraction of a microsecond.

Procedure
The front panel of the CRO is pictured below. To use the instrument to its full potential, you must become
familiar with all of its functions and controls. Take a few moments to familiarize yourself with the many
switches and knobs on the front panel.

Starting up: The first step in operating the CRO is to plug it in and turn it on. Press the POWER SWITCH (3)
and note that the POWER INDICATOR (2) turns green. Next, rotate the INTENSITY, FOCUS and ILLUMINATION
knobs (4), (6), and (8) to their middle settings. These control the spot intensity, spot focus and grid
illumination respectively. Set the SLOPE switch (24) to “+”, the COUPLING switch (25) to “AC”, and the
TRIGGER SOURCE switch (26) to “CH 1”. Set the TIME/DIVISION knob (30) in the microsecond (µs) range
and make sure the TIME VARIABLE knob (31) is in the calibrated position (turned fully clockwise until it
clicks – otherwise the time scale will not be correct!). Now set the CHANNEL 1 COUPLING (10) to “GND”
(ground). This should give you a horizontal line across the OSCILLOSCOPE SCREEN (36). Adjust the
CHANNEL 1 VERTICAL POSITION (9) knob so that the line appears over the middle line of the screen. You
should repeat these steps each time you turn on the CRO during the course.
Motion of the electron beam: The line you see on the screen is actually made up of many closely spaced
dots produced when electrons strike the fluorescent dye on the screen. The vertical position of each dot is
determined by the input voltage to the oscilloscope. The horizontal motion on the screen is determined by
the TIME/DIVISION knob. Set this to 0.5 secs/div and observe that a spot now moves slowly across the
screen, reaches the end, then starts over. Use the stopwatch to time the spot and compare the time it takes
to cross each division (one of the large squares) with the TIME/DIVISION setting. How long would the spot
take to cross the screen with the TIME/DIVISION knob set to 0.2 µs/div?

Alternating (A.C.) voltage from a transformer: You are provided with a step-down transformer that
converts the power outlet’s 110 Volts to 6.3 Volts. The alternating current (A.C.) from the power outlet
cycles between its maximum value in one direction to the same value in the other direction then back again.
In North America, this happens 60 times each second (has a frequency of 60 Hertz).
Plug the transformer into the wall socket and connect the two leads from the transformer to THE CHANNEL 1
INPUT (11). Turn the CHANNEL 1 SENSITIVITY (12) knob to 5 volts/div, the CHANNEL 1 COUPLING to “AC”
and turn THE CHANNEL 1 SENSITIVITY CALIBRATION (13) knob fully clockwise until it clicks (be sure that
this knob is set properly, otherwise the voltage scale will not be correct!). Adjust the TIME/DIVISION setting
until you see at least one full A.C. cycle on the screen. The trace on the screen represents the variation of
voltage with time. What mathematical function best describes this trace? Determine the period of the trace
and calculate the frequency of the transformer output. Does the transformer change the frequency of the
power outlet? (Allow for a 5% error in the frequency). Notice that the maximum voltage is in fact greater
than 6.3 Volts. This is actually the root mean squared (rms) value of the A.C. signal, and its significance
will be covered in class. Since the A.C. signal changes constantly over its cycle, we can say it “behaves”
like a D.C. signal of 6.3 Volts. What is the actual maximum value of the A.C. signal (that is, what is its
amplitude)?

Electrical noise: Unwanted voltage signals are often present in electrical circuits. The interference caused
by this “noise” may make measurements difficult or inaccurate. To see how “noisy” your setup is,
disconnect the leads from the transformer and connect the black (ground) lead to the CRO GROUND (15).
The red lead now acts as an antenna, picking up the stray voltage signals around the CRO. Turn the
CHANNEL 1 SENSITIVITY knob so that the waveform nearly fills the screen. You may have to adjust the
TRIGGER HOLD OFF (21) knob to keep the waveform from moving across the screen. Setting the COUPLING
switch to “high frequency rejection” may also help. What is the frequency of the interference (noise)?
Suggest a source for the noise, that is something close by that uses or produces a voltage of that frequency.
NOTE: By “noise”, we mean electromagnetic noise, not acoustic noise which you hear with your ears.

Triggering: In order to properly display the signal on the screen, the trace must be properly “triggered”.
That is, the horizontal sweep must start at the same voltage level each time or the trace will appear to
“move” across the screen making measurements impossible. The signal used to properly trigger the CRO
is usually the voltage input itself (from channel 1 or channel 2). Reconnect the transformer then set the
TRIGGER SOURCE to “EXT” (external) to indicate that a separate voltage source will be used to trigger the
signal. What happens to the waveform on the screen when you do this?
Return the TRIGGER SOURCE to “channel 1” and graph the waveform you see. Now switch the SLOPE
setting from “+” to “-” and graph the result. The SLOPE setting controls whether the trace is triggered when
the signal is increasing (has a positive slope) or when it is decreasing (has a negative slope).

Direct (D.C.) voltage from a battery: Set the CHANNEL 1 COUPLING switch to “DC” and connect the leads
to the 1.5 Volt battery. Turn the CHANNEL 1 SENSITIVITY knob to 0.5 volts/div and record the voltage of the
battery. What happens when you reverse the leads to the battery?

Sound vibrations: Acoustic vibrations (sounds) are not directly measurable using the CRO. Instead, we
can use a microphone to convert the pressure variations in sound waves to corresponding variations in
voltage. Connect the microphone outputs to the CRO and set the CHANNEL 1 SENSITIVITY knob to 20
mV/div. Human speech consists of many hundreds of different frequencies, which you can now observe by
talking into the microphone. A tuning fork, on the other hand, resonates with only a single frequency.
Strike the tuning fork on something soft (the sole of your shoe, for example) then hold it close to the
microphone. Set the TIME/DIVISION knob to a setting where you can see a few periods of the tuning fork
signal and determine the frequency of the tuning fork. Determine the % error between this frequency and
the one printed on the tuning fork itself.

PART 2:

It’s now time to use the CRO to characterize a simple RC circuit. Specifically, we will use both a
voltmeter and a CRO to look at the same phenomenon, the charging and discharging of a capacitor.

Procedure
Turn the wooden board over to reveal the circuit in Diagram 1. There are actually two circuits here, one
consisting of the 100kΩ rheostat, the 150kΩ resistor and the 100µF capacitor, the other consisting of the
470Ω resistor and the 0.1µF capacitor. A switch varies the first circuit between a charging, open, or
discharging state. Connect the power supply and the voltmeter to the wooden board’s terminals in order to
complete the circuit as shown on Diagram 1. The 100µF capacitor now charges through the 100kΩ
rheostat and discharges through the 150kΩ resistor while the voltage is read on the voltmeter.

Open
Red Lead (+) Charge Discharge
100 kΩ
Switch

470 Ω V
Power 150 kΩ
Supply
0.1 µF 100 µF

Black Lead (-)

Diagram 1
Set the rheostat to its maximum value and set the switch to charge the capacitor. Watch the voltmeter to
see how fast the voltage rises. Set the switch to discharge the capacitor and notice the voltage drop.
Repeat this for the rheostat at half value and at minimum value and compare the charging rates. Notice that
the discharging rates are all the same since each time, the discharging is done through the same resistor (the
150kΩ resistor). Now connect the power supply and the voltmeter to the 0.1µF capacitor and describe its
charging rates for different rheostat settings.

Reconnect the power supply and voltmeter to the 100µF capacitor and set the rheostat to its minimum
value. Charge the capacitor and, using a stopwatch, time the discharge of the capacitor through the 150kΩ
resistor. Make a table of your voltage and time values (with your partner, you should be able to take
voltage values every 3 seconds until the rate slows down, then every 10 seconds).

The 0.1µF capacitor discharges much faster than 100µF capacitor (a thousand times as fast for the same
circuit). To measure such fast changes in voltage we must use the CRO instead of the voltmeter. To keep
up with the capacitor, we will use a function generator instead of a D.C. power supply to charge the
capacitor. The function generator can provide a square waveform which consists of a half period of
constant voltage, then a voltage of zero for the other half period. This is equivalent to setting the switch to
“charge” for half of the time, and then to “discharge” to the other half, except that the function generator
does this very quickly, over and over again. Connect the leads from the square wave output of the function
generator to the CHANNEL 1 INPUT on the CRO to observe the square waveform.

Connect the function generator and the CRO to the 470Ω resistor and the 0.1µF capacitor as shown in
Diagram 2. Set the frequency of the function generator to 1500Hz and the amplitude to 10 Volts. The
capacitor will now charge during the constant voltage half of the period, then discharge during the zero
voltage half, repeating this 1500 times a second. Using the CRO, determine the time constant τ of the
circuit. Recall from Section 18.4 of your textbook that τ=RC is the time the voltage takes to decrease from
its maximum value to 1/e of its maximum.

Open
Charge Discharge
100 kΩ
Red Lead (+) Switch

470 Ω
Function 150 kΩ
Generator
0.1 µF 100 µF
CRO

Black Lead (-)

Diagram 2

Analysis

For the circuit comprised of the 150kΩ resistor and the 100µF capacitor, plot a graph of Voltage vs. Time
from your table values. Determine the time constant, τ, of the circuit. The capacitance value of 100µF is
only approximate; determine the actual value from the time constant, τ = RC (assume that the resistance of
150kΩ is correct).

The charging and discharging of the 0.1µF capacitor takes place through the 470Ω resistor in series with
another resistor (the output resistance of the function generator). Use the time constant for this circuit to
determine this resistor value.