UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

EE 101 - Introduction to Electrical Engineering

Laboratory Handout

Name: Partners name:

Laboratory # 1: VOLTAGE AND CURRENT IN SIMPLE CIRCUITS

Instructional Objectives (at the end of this lab you should be able to:) - Understand simple circuit diagrams. - Create circuits on the Breadboard by following simple circuit diagrams. - Connect to a 9V battery to the Breadboard. - Measure dc voltages using a multimeter. - Understand Ohms Law and Kirchhoffs voltage law. - Measure dc currents using a multimeter and understand Kirchhoffs current law. Description and Background Engineers and technicians frequently use circuit diagrams to show how components and voltage sources are interconnected. Understanding circuit diagrams others have written, and writing your own circuit diagrams so that others may understand them, is clearly an essential skill for communicating specific technical information in electrical and computer engineering. Voltages and currents have polarity and magnitude. For example, -5 V indicates a negative polarity, a magnitude of 5 and units of volts (V). The expression +3 mA indicates a 3 milliampere current with a positive polarity. The term circuit node refers to any point in a circuit where two or more elements (or branches) are joined together. A circuit loop is any closed path starting at a node in an electrical circuit, which when traversed requires passing through a sequence of circuit branches and which comes back to the circuit node of the beginningwithout the path crossing itself. A circuit can have many circuit loops, some of which intersect or share branches and others that do not. One of the fundamental rules for electrical engineers is Ohms Law, named for Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854). Ohm discovered a linear relationship between voltage and current in many circuit elements: V=IR where V is voltage (volts), I is current (amps), and R is the resistance of the circuit element that we now measure in the unit of ohms. Another way of interpreting Ohms Law is that the resistance R is the voltage across the component divided by the current through it. Two other very important rules for understanding electrical circuits are known as Kirchhoffs Laws, named after Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (1824-1887), who did experiments with electricity in the mid-1800s. Kirchhoffs voltage law: the sum of the voltages around a circuit loop must equal zero, when following a consistent measurement direction of voltages for each element around the loop. In other words, the total of the voltage steps as you go around a circuit loop must end up back where you started. Kirchhoffs current law: the sum of all currents into a circuit node must equal zero. In other words, the total current flowing into a node must equal the current flowing out of that node. Voltage and current measurements use two wires from the multimeter; this gives two choices of how the wires are connected in a circuit (black wire here, or red wire here?). Being attentive to this choice will give correct polarity (positive or negative current or voltage). It helps to be consistent: you are encouraged to use the red wire for the positive polarity and the black wire for the negative polarity. Equipment Breadboard, Analog (or digital) Multi-meter, your lab kit containing resistors and alligator clips, 9V Battery.

Procedures Part 1: Construct the circuit shown below on your breadboard. Use the 9V battery for the voltage sources. Measure voltages V , V , and V and record them on the figure (pay strict attention to the proper
A B C

polarities). Also for each of these three measured voltages, show clearly on the figure where the wires from the multimeter were connected.

V : ___________
A

V : _____________
B

V : ____________
C

Part 2: Using the voltages you measured in Part1, show two examples of Kirchhoffs- voltage law: one expression using your measurements for V , V , and the 9V battery, and another expression
A B

using your measurements for V , V , and the 9V battery. Explain the reason for any discrepancy
A C

in your measurements.

Part 3: Construct the circuit shown below on your breadboard. Use the lab 9V battery for the voltage source. Measure currents I , I , and I following the polarities shown in the figure and record your
1 2 3

measurements in the area shown on the right of your circuit. The meter must be placed in series with the circuit branch you are trying to measure, which means you have to think carefully about how to separate the desired branch and place the meter into the circuit.

Also for each of these three measured currents, sketch on the figure how the multimeter was connected into your circuit, including identifying clearly where the red and black wires were attached.

I : ___________
1

I : ___________
2 3

I : ___________

Part 4. Using the currents you measured in Part 3, show an example of Kirchhoffs current law for one of the circuit nodes and explain how this law applies to your measurements.

Part 5. Answer the questions in the table below. abbreviations.

Carefully check for units and proper

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

725 mV is how many volts? 10.5 A is how many mA? What is the sum of 650 mV and 1.2 V (in volts)? 0.075 A is how many mA? What is the sum of 0.25 mA and 0.05 A (in mA)? Express 2.2 mA in terms of A. What is the sum of 2400 V and 30,500 mV (in V)? How many circuit loops are in the P1 circuit? How many circuit loops are in the P3 circuit?

Laboratory # 2: SERIES AND PARALLEL RESISTORS

Instructional Objectives (at the end of this lab you should be able to:) - Use a circuit breadboard to construct simple circuits. - Identify series and parallel connections of circuit components. - Determine the nominal values of resistors by using the color codes. - Measure resistance values using a multimeter. - Be able to calculate the equivalent resistance of series and parallel resistor circuits.

Description and Background Resistors are commonly used in electronic circuits, along with other components such as capacitors, inductors, and active devices such as transistors and integrated circuits (commonly called ICs). Resistors may be connected in series and/or parallel for many reasons, such as to reduce a voltage to a convenient value (as in a voltage divider) or to provide a value different from one that is commercially available. You therefore need to be able to find the effective resistance of various combinations of individual elements. Resistors have a nominal value indicated by colored bands or other labeling. Refer to a colorcode chart to interpret the nominal value indicated by the colored bands. The actual (measured) resistance will vary from the nominal value due to subtle mechanical and chemical differences that occur during manufacturing. The manufacturer specifies the maximum deviation from the nominal value as a percentage. This range of deviation is called the tolerance of the resistor family. Typical tolerance values are 1%, 5%, or 10%. The resistors in your lab kit are 5%, which is indicated by a fourth band that is gold in color. We will observe the variation in measured resistance values for the class and prepare a histogram of the measured values. Equipment Your breadboard, your own lab kit containing resistors (and other components), your own resistor color code chart, alligator clips from your lab kit, lab multimeter and cables in the lab for connecting to the multimeter. Procedures Part 1. You and your partners should get all the resistors from your lab kits. You should each have 5 resistors in your kit. Using the resistor color code chart, fill out the table on the next page for all the resistors in both your lab kit and your partners lab kit. You will record: the sequence of color bands and the nominal resistance value this represents the measured value of each resistor, the percent difference between the nominal value and the measured value.

The percentage difference between the nominal value (indicated by the color code) and the measured value is calculated using the equation:

No.

Color bands on the resistor

Resistance value from color codes, ohms

Measured resistance using multimeter (Be sure that the decimal point and units are correct)

Percent difference of measured value relative to color code value, in percentage

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Part 2. Select two resistors from your kit that have a third color band that is RED. Using your breadboard, connect these two resistors in parallel and then measure the combination resistance using the multimeter.

Resistor 1 nominal value: ________ Resistor 2 nominal value: ________ Measured resistance of parallel combination: _________

Now draw a simple schematic diagram consists of the battery and only one resistor. The drawn resistor is equal to the measured value.

Show the mathematical formula for how the equivalent resistance for a parallel combination of two resistors can be calculated. Also, compare the equivalent resistance calculated using the nominal values to the measured resistance and explain your results in a brief and concise manner using complete sentences.

Part 3. Select two other resistors from your partners lab kit that have a third color band that is RED. Connect these two other resistors in series and use the multimeter to measure the

combination resistance of this series arrangement. Resistor 3 nominal value: ________ Resistor 4 nominal value: ________ Measured resistance of series combination: ________

Draw a simple schematic diagram of this series circuit, including nominal and measured value labels.

Show how to calculate the overall resistance for the series combination of the two resistors. Compare the measured resistance to the value calculated from the nominal values and explain your results in a brief and concise manner using complete sentences.

Part 4. Using your breadboard, now create a four-resistor circuit by joining the combination of two parallel resistors from Part 2 in a series connection with the two series resistors from Part 3. In other words, you will now have two parallel resistors, connected to a sequence of two series resistors. Measure the total resistance of this 4-resistor circuit and record your results along with a sketch of your circuit with nominal labels for all four resistances. Measured resistance of parallel + series combination: ________

Show how to calculate the overall resistance for the four-resistor circuit. Compare the nominal value calculated to the measured value and explain your results in a brief and concise manner using complete sentences.

Laboratory # 3: RESISTOR-CAPACITOR (RC) CIRCUITS

Purpose: Thus far, you have dealt with resistive direct current (DC) circuits. Capacitor is another circuit element that well be introducing in EE101. This lab will introduce capacitor, which is an energy storage device. You will use this circuit element in conjunction with the resistor and lamp (LED). Procedures Component Values: For all circuits in the laboratory, use the following component values: R: 100 W C: 6800 F DC supply: 9 volts. At first connect a simple DC circuit with a resistor and a lamp (Figure 1). Reconnect this circuit and verify its operation. Instead of connecting the circuit with alligator-clip leads, the network should be constructed on a breadboard. For ease of troubleshooting, the circuit should be laid out on the breadboard in a similar fashion to the schematic.
R DC

Figure 1: Resistor/Lamp circuit

Resistive-Capacitive (RC) Circuits: A capacitor (cap) is an electrical device, which retains an electric charge. Once a capacitor is charged, it acts similar to a battery, except that it goes dead very quickly. A capacitor can be thought of as a water tower. Water is pumped into the water tower, and is then available for use at a later time without the need of a pump. Similar to a capacitor, if the water is not refilled into the water tower, the tower will go dry. Figure 2 shows two diagrams for capacitor and a diagram for switch, which will be used in the remainder of this laboratory.

Figure 2: Capacitor and switch circuit diagrams

Reconnect the original lamp circuit, only this time, place a capacitor in parallel with the voltage source (battery) as shown in Figure 3.
R DC C

Figure 3: Parallel RC circuit

As you noticed, this circuit contains a switch; however, you do not have a switch available in your parts kit. For this lab, you will simply connect/disconnect a wire to simulate a switch, so be sure to connect your circuit in such a way that you may easily do this. Notice that when you close the switch, the lamp does not immediately begin to glowit gradually reaches full brightness. This is because the capacitor is charging (filling up), so there is no current available to go through the lamp. Once the lamp has reached full brightness (by the time you finish this sentence), open the switch, and record the amount of time for the lamp to stop glowing. A term commonly used in circuits such as this (RC circuits) is time-constant. The time constant is defined as the amount of time a capacitor takes to charge/discharge to 63% of its final value. For a capacitor to fully charge or discharge, it takes approximately five time-constants. Thus, to compute the time-constant for this circuit, divide the time you measured earlier by five. Because circuits do not always have lamps available to watch, nor do we want to sit by a circuit with a stop watch, the time-constant, , can be computed by multiplying the component values for the resistor and capacitor: = RC. Compare this value for the time constant to the one computed from the stopwatch value. Explain several factors that may have lead to any differences in the value of the time-constant.

Another circuit: Analyze (with constructing) the circuits in Figure 4, which have a capacitor in series with the lamp. Explain if the lamp will glow when: A). The switch is closed; and B). The switch is opened.

R DC

Figure 4: Series capacitor circuits

Laboratory # 4: : (SENSOR LAB) USE A MAGNET-SENSOR TO SWITCH ON A FLASHING LED

Purpose: To build a circuit that when a magnet gets near a magnet sensor it will cause an LED to flash a few times each second, instead of constantly staying on.

Figure 1: Circuit Diagram.

Procedure: 1. Push power and display switches off. 2. Put the 4011 integrated circuit across the slot/grove. Make sure pin 1 is located at F5. 3. Insert one end of R1 (1 M , brn-blk-grn) at D3 and the other end to G3. 4. Insert one end of R2 (100 K , brn-blk-yel) at D5 and the other end to H4. 5. Insert one end of R3 (470 , yel-vio-brn) at E1 and the other end to +9V. 6. Insert positive end of C1 (1 F) at I4 and the negative end to D4. 7. Insert the pin connected to the flat part of the red LED to I2 and the other end to E2. 8. Use a white wire and connect one end to L2 and the other end to Ground. 9. Use a white wire and connect one end to F10 and the other end to +9V. 10. Use a white wire and connect one end to H2 and the other end to J2. 11. Use a white wire and connect one end to J1 and the other end to K1. 12. Use a white wire and connect one end to L4 and the other end to H7. 13. Use a white wire and connect one end to F4 and the other end to J7. 14. Use a white wire and connect one end to G10 and the other end to H10. 15. Use a white wire and connect one end to K10 and the other end to L10. 16. Use a red wire and connect one end to Spring 7 and the other end to +9V. 17. Use a red wire and connect one end to Spring 8 and the other end to Ground. 18. Use a red wire and connect one end to Spring 9 and the other end to L7.

Testing: Be sure no leads (metal wires) from resistors and capacitors are touching, if they are separate them a little bit. Turn the power switch on. The red LED should be on. Now place the south pole of the magnet to the left side of the magnet sensor, the LED should now be flashing. If you next move the magnet away, the LED should go back to being on without flashing.

Answer the following question: 1. Name the components used in this circuit?

2. What did the circuit do in this lab?

3. What was the role of the sensor?

4. Did you encounter any problem putting this circuit together? Elaborate.

Laboratory # 5: : (SENSOR LAB) USE A PRESSURE SENSOR TO BUILD A RISING TONE OSCILATOR
Purpose: To build a circuit that as you vary how much pressure you apply will cause different tones. The more pressure you apply the tone becomes higher.

Figure 1: Circuit Diagram.

Procedure: 1. Push power and display switches off. 2. Put the 555 integrated circuit across the slot/grove. Make sure pin 1 is located at J5. 3. Insert one end of R1 (1 M , brn-blk-grn) at L10 and the other end to K10. 4. Insert one end of R2 (270 K , red-vio-brn) at E8 and the other end to J8. 5. Insert one end of C1 (0.001 F, 102) at J1 and the other end to K1. 6. Use a white wire and connect one end to J2 and the other end to Ground. 7. Use a white wire and connect one end to J10 and the other end to +9V. 8. Use a white wire and connect one end to K4 and the other end to L7. 9. Use a white wire and connect one end to M4 and the other end to J7. 10. Use a red wire and connect one end to Spring 5 and the other end to +9V. 11. Use a red wire and connect one end to Spring 6 and the other end to K7. 12. Use a red wire and connect one end to Spring 23 and the other end to E10. 13. Use a red wire and connect one end to Spring 24 and the other end to L4.

Testing: Be sure no leads (metal wires) from resistors and capacitors are touching, if they are separate them a little bit. Turn the power switch on. Grab the pressure sensor (looks like a cylindrical black sponge) and place it on the touch sensor. Gently press down. A buzz that quickly becomes a tone sounds as you continue to press down on the sensor. Relax the pressure and the tone frequency should fall. Move your finger. The tone becomes a slow buzz or the speaker becomes silent.

Answer the following question: 1. Name the components used in this circuit?

2. What did the circuit do in this lab?

3. What was the role of the sensor?

4. Did you encounter any problem putting this circuit together? Elaborate.

Laboratory # 6: (SENSOR LAB) BUILD AN OPTICAL FEEDBACK CIRCUIT

Purpose: To build a circuit that detects objects. When an object comes between an LED and a photo resistor the LED will get brighter.

Figure 1: Circuit Diagram.

Procedure: 1. Push power and display switches off. 2. Insert the photo resistor card into the sensor socket. 3. Put the 272 integrated circuit across the slot/grove. Make sure pin 1 is located at J5. 4. Insert one end of R2 (10 K , brn-blk-org) at L2 and the other end to Ground. 5. Insert one end of R3 (1 K , brn-blk-red) at I5 and the other end to +9V. 6. Insert the pin connected to the flat part of the green LED to J4 and the other end to I1. 7. Bend LED so it is pointing at the photo resistor card. 8. Use a white wire and connect one end to M4 and the other end to Ground. 9. Use a white wire and connect one end to J10 and the other end to +9V. 10. Use a white wire and connect one end to Spring 1 and the other end to +9V. 11. Use a red wire and connect one end to Spring 2 and the other end to L4. 12. Use a blue wire and connect one end to Spring 13 and the other end to +9V. 13. Use a blue wire and connect one end to Spring 14 and the other end to K2. 14. Use a red wire and connect one end to Spring 15 and the other end to Ground.

Testing: Be sure no leads (metal wires) from resistors and LED are touching, if they are separate them a little bit. Rotate the 100 Kconsole potentiometer (R1) all the way to the left. Turn the power switch on and rotate R1 to the right until the LED just glows. Now place some object (your finger, a pencil, etc.) between the LED and the photo resistor. The LED should brighten. Now remove the object and the LED should dim.

Answer the following question: 1. Name the components used in this circuit?

2. What did the circuit do in this lab?

3. What was the role of the sensor?

4. Did you encounter any problem putting this circuit together? Elaborate.