GOALS

• To study Ohm's Law, Kirchoff's Voltage Law, and the Resistor-Capacitor combination.
• Investigate both the "time domain" and "frequency domain" behavior of the circuit.
• To determine the time constant of the RC circuit.

Technique

• Learn how to use a multimeter, a signal generator, and an oscilloscope.
• Practice constructing simple circuits and determining some basic characteristics of the circuit.

Errors

• Learn to estimate how well you can measure time and voltage when using the oscilloscope.
• Comparing theoretical and experimental values.

Questions(Work out in lab book before coming to class)

1. What is the frequency of the signal generator (square wave) so that the period of the square-wave is ten times longer than the RC time of the circuit (R=500, C=0.1F)?
2. What are f₀ and ₀ for a circuit with the above R and C?

References

• Halliday and Resnick, "Fundamentals of Physics", Third Edition Chapters 28,29,36
• Taylor, "An Introduction to Error Analysis" Chapters 1-3 and 12