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4.6 Uses of An Oscilloscope

An oscilloscope can be used to display and measure waveforms. It has vertical and horizontal axes to measure potential difference over time. The Y-gain amplifies the input to appear on screen and the timebase controls the spot's horizontal movement, directly proportional to time. An oscilloscope can measure voltages by connecting to its Y-input, with the vertical displacement proportional to potential difference. It can also display waveforms and measure time intervals and frequency when the timebase is on and calibrated.

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Fadhlina Natasya
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146 views3 pages

4.6 Uses of An Oscilloscope

An oscilloscope can be used to display and measure waveforms. It has vertical and horizontal axes to measure potential difference over time. The Y-gain amplifies the input to appear on screen and the timebase controls the spot's horizontal movement, directly proportional to time. An oscilloscope can measure voltages by connecting to its Y-input, with the vertical displacement proportional to potential difference. It can also display waveforms and measure time intervals and frequency when the timebase is on and calibrated.

Uploaded by

Fadhlina Natasya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Topic 4.

6: Uses of an oscilloscope
Learning objectives;
q Describe the use of an oscilloscope to display waveforms
q Describe how to measure p.d. and short intervals of time with an oscilloscope using the Y-
gain and timebase

OSCILLOSCOPE SETTINGS

A small cathode ray oscilloscope (CRO) is shown in this figure.


The vertical axis on an oscilloscope screen provides a
measurement of potential difference (p.d.)
The horizontal axis on an oscilloscope screen provides a
measurement of time.

The signal to be measured is connected to the Y-input terminal of the oscilloscope


The Y-gain control amplifies the input p.d. to make it large enough to appear a suitable size on the
screen.
The timebase controls how fast the bright spot moves from left to right. The distance moved by the
spot is directly proportional to time

Tips: when preparing the oscilloscope for use, set the X-shift and Y-shift controls to their mid-
positions.

USES OF AN OSCILLOSCOPE
1. Measuring p.d.s
An oscilloscope can be used as a d.c./a.c. voltmeter by connecting the p.d. to be measured to the Y-
input terminals
The vertical displacement is proportional to the p.d.
The vertical displacement can be measured with the timebase either on or off.

To find the value of a d.c. voltage,


count the number of whole divisions the trace is displaced vertically and multiply that number by the
V/div setting.

To find the value of an a.c. input,


count the number of divisions occupied by the vertical line (timebase off) or vertical peak-to-trough
distance (timebase on).
The amplitude of the a.c. voltage can then be found by multiplying the V/div setting by half the
number of vertical divisions counted.

Prepared by: Nur Hanisah HA


1
Topic 4.6: Uses of an oscilloscope
USES OF AN OSCILLOSCOPE
2. Displaying Waveforms
When the timebase is ON, the oscilloscope acts as a graph-plotter to show the waveform of the p.d.
applied to its Y-input.
Sound waveforms can be displayed if a microphone is connected to the Y-input terminals.

3. Measuring time intervals and frequency


These can be measure if the oscilloscope has a calibrated timebase.
For example, when the timebase is set on 10ms/div, the spot takes 10 milliseconds to move from one
division horizontally across the screen.

Prepared by: Nur Hanisah HA


2

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