Lab 4 Write Up
Lab 4 Write Up
Chuy Resendiz
Kyle Anderson
Lab 4 Write up
Pre lab
● Given a RC low-pass filter with R=100 Ohm, C=0.5F, compute the cutoff frequency fc=? Provide
this value in your lab report. 1/RC 1/(100)(.5) = 0.02
Intro
Our objective for this lab was to observe and analyze the behavior of an RC Circuit
Under a Sinusoidal source with different frequencies along with analyzing the
analog filters and sinusoidal steady state of RC and RLC circuits
This is important because while we know of the theoretical equations and methods
to find Voltage of An RC circuits we will be proving that equations like Voltage
divider work for Sinusoidal sources.
Lab exercise 1:
Write-up: In your report, provide the snapshot of Vin and Vout waveforms for the case of f=𝑓𝑐. Note the
waveforms should show the correct voltage relationship with this frequency.
(Insert Snap)
(Write-up) Theoretically calculate the amplitude of Vout by analyzing the circuit using the frequency
domain (phasor) method. Record it in table 1.
(Write-up) Need to provide calculation details in your report!
(Vs*((1/j*2pif*1E-6))/(1000+(1/(j*2pif*1E-6))) to find Vout
*f is the frequency.
Table 1:
(1) Theory question: From your measurements, what percentage of the source voltage was dropped
across the capacitor at the cutoff frequency (i.e., when the source frequency f=fc)?
Write-up: provide the answer in your report.
fc= 159.2 (1.45V/2V)*100=72.5%
(2) Write-up: Provide a plot of the voltage gain Av vs f in your report based on table 1. State the
trend of Av as source frequency f increases.
(3) As f Increases AV decreases
Graph1: AV vs F
(4) Write-up: Answer the following question in your report. Does table 1 or the voltage gain plot in
(6) show that this RC circuit indeed attenuates higher frequency components (i.e., the amplitude
of Vout becomes smaller when the source signal frequency f>fc)?
Both the table and the voltage gain plot shows that the Vout gets smaller as frequency increases past the
cutoff frequency
(5) Write-up: based on your answer in (8), is this circuit a low-pass filter?
Yes this is a Low-pass filter as it cuts out unwanted high frequencies Vout decreases after the cutoff
frequency
Lab Exercise 2:
(1) Write-up: Predict what type of waveform the output voltage should be given Vs is a sinusoidal?
Answer this question in your report.
The waveform should be a sinusoidal wave form as the input is also a sinusoidal
(2) Observe Vs and Vc waveform from an oscilloscope using two channels.
Write-up: In your report, provide a snapshot of Vs and Vc waveforms.
(insert snap)
(5)
Figure 2: A series RLC circuit driven by a sinusoidal source
Conclusion:
In conclusion we found that the measured V out is very close to the calculated Vout . The
only reason that it's slightly different is due to the resistors and capacitors not having exact
values compared to the calculated values. We also found that as the frequency increases in an RC
circuit the voltage gain decreases over frequency, which makes sense since the capacitor's
impedance is increasing which results in a smaller V out. We also found that voltage can be
found in a RLC Circuit by using voltage divider to find V out.
In conclusion RC and RLC circuits with sinusoidal sources act like Direct Sources as
long as you find the impedance of he circuit and use it as a resistor, Along with finding the real
world application of low pass filters