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Oscilloscope


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Measuring Voltage

  1. Adjust the Volts per Division setting to its calibrated position.
  2. Now set the scale. For example one Volt per division.
  3. Now look at the trace and work out how many Volts you are measuring.
  4. In the image, it's 4 squares. Each square is worth one Volt so its 4 Volts.
     
    Oscilloscope

Measuring Period

  1. Adjust the Time per Division setting to its calibrated position.
  2. Now set the scale. For example 5ms per division.
  3. Now look at the trace and work out how many squares each wave takes up.
  4. In the image, it's 4 squares. Each square is worth 5ms. So its 4 x 5 = 20ms.
     
    Oscilloscope

Measuring Frequency

Measure the period and then calculate ...

         FREQUENCY = 1 / PERIOD

Digital Oscilloscopes - Plug into a Computer USB Port

These are generally smaller, cheaper, easier to use and they give more accurate results.

Digital Oscilloscope from Picoscope

Oscilloscopes are used to measure ...

Sample Oscilloscope Question

Oscilloscope.gif

  • Q: If the Y sensitivity is set to 0.5 Volts per Division, what the the peak voltage?
  • A: The wave is four squares high so the voltage is 4 x 0.5 = 2 Volts Peak.

 

  • Q: If the Y sensitivity is set to 2 Volts per Division, what the the peak to peak voltage?
  • A: The wave is eight squares high so the voltage is 8 x 2 = 16 Volts Peak to Peak.

 

  • Q: If the Y sensitivity is set to 2 Volts per Division, what the the RMS Voltage?
  • A: The wave is four squares high so the voltage is 4 x 2 = 8 Volts Peak. Multiply by 0.7 to convert to RMS so 8 x 0.7 = 5.6 Volts RMS.

 

  • Q: If the X scale is set to 5 ms per division, what the the period of this wave?
  • A: The wave is four squares wide for one complete cycle so the period is 4 x 5 = 20 ms.

 

  • Q: If the X scale is set to 5 ms per division, what the the frequency of this wave?
  • A: The wave is four squares wide for one complete cycle so the period is 4 x 5 = 20 ms. Frequency = 1 / Period = 1 / 0.02 = 50 Hz.

Oscilloscopes have gone digital

Here is a Picoscope trace used to measure the tuned circuit shown in the diagram.

Picoscope-LC-Circuit.gif

 

 

 

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