INTRODUCTION TO APPLIED

PHYSICS LABORATORY
 Introduction
This lecture gives you a brief overview of
common electronic components and explain
what their functions are.
 Outline

Operation of Passive Active Circuit

Electronic Component Component Assembly
Equipment
• Voltmeters
s s • Bread Board
• Connecting wires
• Ohmmeters • Resistor • Diode
• cutter
• Ammeters • Capacitor • Types
• Power supplies • Transistor
• function generator • Types
• Oscilloscope
 Electricity
• Two forms of electricity

– Static Electricity is an electrical charge at rest

– Produced by either magnetism, chemicals, light,

heat, or pressure
 Alternating Current
• If the high & low voltage terminals switch locations
periodically, the current will flow “back and forth” in the
circuit. This is called alternating current (AC).
 Alternating Current
• It is the form that comes in our house mains. It has a
magnitude of 220V and a frequency of 50Hz.
 Direct Current
• If the voltage is maintained between two points in a circuit,
charge will flow in one direction - from high to low
potential. This is called direct current (DC)
Symbols of Power Sources
 Power Supply
• A power supply is a device that supplies electric power to
an electrical load.
• Digital power supplies are being used increasingly as
they are able to provide improved levels of performance
over more traditional power supplies.
 Measuring Instruments
• A measuring instrument is a device for measuring
a physical quantity.

• Instruments for measuring electrical quantitates

– Voltmeter (for measuring Voltage)
– Ammeter (for measuring current)
– Ohmmeter (for measuring resistance)
– Multimeter (for measuring all three quantities)
 Voltmeter
• AC and DC Voltmeters
 Voltmeter
• Voltmeters have high impedance and hence are connected
in parallel across the points between which potential
difference is to be measured.

Voltmeter
 Ammeter
• AC and DC ammeter
 Ammeter
• Ammeters, on the other hand exhibit a very small
resistance, and hence are connected in series,

Ammeter
Ohmmeter
Ohmmeter
 Multimeter
• Analog vs Digital
 Multimeter
• A multimeter is a device that’s used to measure
electric current (amps), voltage (volts) and
resistance (ohms). It’s a great for
troubleshooting circuits and is capable of
measuring both AC and DC voltage.
 Multimeter
• Two probes are plugged into two of
the ports on the front of the unit.
• COM stands for common and is almost
always connected to Ground or ‘-’ of a circuit.
• The COM probe is conventionally black but
there is no difference between the red probe
and black probe other than color.
 Multimeter
• 10A is the special port used when measuring
large currents (greater than 200mA).
• mAVΩ is the port that the red probe is
conventionally plugged in to.
• This port allows the measurement of current
(up to 200mA), voltage (V), and resistance
(Ω).
Measuring voltage Using Digital Multimeter
• To start, let’s measure voltage on a AA battery: Plug the
black probe into COM and the red probe into mAVΩ.

• Set the multimeter to “2V” in the DC

(direct current) range

• Connect the black probe to the battery’s

ground or ‘-’ and the red probe to power or
‘+’
Measuring resistance Using Digital Multimeter

• Pick out a random

resistor and set the
multimeter to the 20kΩ
setting
Measuring Current Using Digital Multimeter
• Reading current is one of the trickiest and most insightful readings in
our world of electronics.
• It’s tricky because you have to measure current in series.
 More Equipment
• Electronic circuits need to be tested for their
functionality.

• This is done by applying test signals as input to

the circuits and observing their response.

• This requires a device which generates test signals

and another device for observing the circuit
response to those test signals.
 Introduction
• Electronic circuits need to be tested for their
functionality.

• This is done by applying test signals as input to

the circuits and observing their response.

• This requires a device which generates test signals

and another device for observing the circuit
response to those test signals.
 Function Generator
• We can control the amplitude and frequency of generated
waveforms.
Function Generator
Function Generator Probes
 Oscilloscope

• The oscilloscope is basically a graph-

displaying device
• It draws a graph of an electrical signal.
• In most applications the graph shows how
signals change over time:
– the vertical (Y) axis represents voltage
– the horizontal (X) axis represents time.
 Example Electrical Signal
5
Y=VOLTAGE (volts)
2.5

X=TIME (seconds)
-2.5 5 10 15 20

-5

• Above, this sine wave represents a voltage that is changing

over time
• So at time=2.5s, what is the voltage?
– And again at 10seconds?...15 seconds?
• We can see that as time moves forward, the voltage is
changing
– Is this an AC or DC voltage? What does that mean?
What are the major components?

• Display Screen
– Displays an input
signal with respect to
time.
• Control Panel
– Adjusts how the
input signal is
displayed.
 What is the purpose of an oscilloscope

• The purpose of an oscilloscope is to measure a

voltage that changes with time and show it in a
graphical format

1) Here is the oscilloscope in

our lab
-Notice the X-Y axes
2) Here is our alternating voltage
signal from before

3) If we measure our signal with the

scope, it would look like this!
 Oscilloscope Screen

• Notice that the screen has

ruled divisions both
horizontally and vertically.

• The major divisions are

marked off in centimeters,
the middle lines also have
minor divisions every 0.2 of
a centimeter.
Oscilloscope Probes
 Resistors
• A material that opposes the flow of electric current

• Resistance is measured in ohms ()

• Resistors are "Passive Devices", that is they contain no source of power or amplification but
only attenuate or reduce the voltage or current signal passing through them.

• Resistors can be either fixed or variable in value

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 Fixed Resistors
– Fixed resistors have only one Ohmic value, which cannot
be changed or adjusted.
– Fixed resistors come in a variety of different shapes, sizes
and forms
– Fixed resistors are made of
• Carbon composition
• Metal films
• High-resistance wire
 Variable Resistors

• Variable resistors can have two or three

terminals.
• Variable resistors are classified as a rheostat or a
potentiometer.

– Rheostat: Two- terminal device

– Potentiometer: Three-terminal device
Variable Resistors
Diode Terminals
 Diode Biasing
Short Circuit

Forward Biased Diode

Open Circuit

Reverse Biased Diode

 Light Emitting Diode (LED)
• A compound that is commonly used for LEDs
construction is Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), because of it’s
large bandgap.

• Gallium is a group 3 element while Arsenide is a group 5

element.

• When put together as a compound, GaAs creates a

zincblend lattice structure.
Light Emitting Diode (LED)
 Transistor
• A transistor is a 3 terminal device that is used in
a variety of applications such as amplification
and switching.

• There are two types of transistors categorized

according to their construction:
– Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
– Field Effect Transistor (FET)
 BJT
• The Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) comes in
two flavors
 FET
• It is a two layer three terminal device made up of
two pieces of semiconductors.
• Like the BJT, this comes in two flavors too
 Breadboard
• Breadboards are an essential tool for prototyping and
building temporary circuits. These boards contain holes
for inserting wire and components. Because of their
temporary nature, they allow you to create circuits without
soldering. The holes in a breadboard are connected in
rows both horizontally and vertically as shown below.
Test Leads (Alligator Clips)
 Wire Cutter
• Wire cutters are essential for stripping
stranded and solid copper wire.
 Jumper Wire

• These wires are used with breadboard and

development boards . Jumper wires can have
male or female ends depending on how they
need to be used.
 Electronic Circuit
• An electronic circuit is composed of individual
electronic components, such as resistors,
transistors, capacitors, inductors and diodes,
connected by conductive wires or traces
through which electric current can flow
 Breadboard
• Breadboards are designed to work with any
electronic component that has metal leads or
pins that can be plugged into the holes on a
breadboard. These are called “through hole” or
“thru hole” components
Thank You