Electricity: Applied Physics

Sponsored by Mr. Peterson's 7th hour Physics class 

Summing it up...

So, I know it's not required to add a final post, but I felt that after such a project, I should at least conclude some way.
 
Although I had past experience with electronics when starting with this project, I was just getting into it, "getting my feet wet" so to speak. This projected helped me immensely, both by teaching me new things and by giving me hands on experience every day. I feel that, given the opportunity to continue something like this, I would DEFINITELY chose to do it again. I believe that I can use the knowledge that I've taken from this project as well as the familiarity with electronic components. I'm very happy that I was presented with the opportunity to do this project, and I hope to see similar ideas in other classes as well. Thank you for reading, and this concludes the blog.

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Project #3: Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO)

1. Adjust the potentiometer. What happens to the sound frequency as R3 is adjusted?

It changes according to the position of the potentiometer.
2. Measure the voltage applied to pin 5. Adjust the pot to give the highest possible voltage.   4.7 volts
3. Now adjust the pot for the minimum voltage to pin 5. The voltage is 3.2 volts
4. The output frequency is highest when the control voltage at pin 5 is lowest.

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Project #2: Astable Multivibrator

1. What doe the LED do? How does this tell you that the astable is operating properly?

The LED blinks. This tells me it is operating correctly because it is doing what any astable multivibrator does: It blinks at a frequency relative to the values of C1, R1, and R2.
2. Change R2 to 100kΩ. What do you THINK will be the effect of this charge?
It will blink faster.
3. What is the ACTUAL effect caused by the resistor change?
It appears to stay on, probably because it is blinking so fast that it appears to be constantly on.

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Project #1: Monostable Multivibrator

This is the first project out of the "clocks" book.

1. Momentarily bring pin 2 of the 555 low by touching it to ground. What does the output do?

It turns on momentarily.
2. After the LED goes off, do this again and time the LED to see how long it remains on.
About five second.
3. Use this formula to calculate how long the LED should stay on: t = R1 x C1 Does this agree with the time the LED was actually on?
t = 4.7  It did agree.
4. Cause the LED to light and touch pin 4 to ground before the LED would normally turn off. What happened?
It turned off the LED.
5. Change the value of C1 to 0.1µF. What do think will be the result of this change?
The LED will turn off sooner.
6. Repeat the above steps to determine the actual effect of changing the capacitance. What happened?
It turned off sooner as the capacitance went down.
7. You may also want to change the value of R1 to see its effect. What happened?
It turned off sooner.

By the way, that IS my hand trying to get out of the way before the picture took.

Any questions?

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Optional Project (for Opto-Couplers book)

This is my optional Project to finish off the Opto-Couplers book. I made an electronic dice game. Happy to finish up this book (finally).

Any questions?

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Project #6: Opto-Couplers

This project caused me a little bit of grief, especially because I believe that it's dead technology... Oh well, did the work anyway...

1. Remove one end of the resistor R5. This shuts off the opto-coupler. What is the effect of this?

The 7 segment LED turns off.

2. Change the settings of the binary switches and reconnect R5. What happened?

It turned back on displaying the binary number on the switch.

3. Is this what you expected?

Yes.

Any questions?

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Project #5: Logic Probe #2

1. Touch the probe to a 5V source. What happens?

The display outputs a 1.
2. Touch the probe to source ground. What happens?
The display outputs a 0.
3. Can you decide what would happen if a digital pulse were applied to the probe? Explain how this would work.
The display would show a 1 when the signal is high and a 0 when it is low because when a voltage from the probe is high, it interrupts the flow of electrons flowing through the transistor, causing it to shut off the 4 LEDs powering the "0". At the same time, when the voltage on he probe is high, it lights up the LED for the "1".

Any questions?

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Project #4: 7 Segment Readout

A skitch of my answers to #2 and #4 and two photos of my wiring.

Part 1:
1. Here are the following switches needed to form the numbers below:

#1: 5, 6
#2: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7
#3: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7
#4: 2, 3, 6, 7
#5: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7
#6: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
#7: 1, 2, 3
#8: 1,2 ,3, 4, 5, 6, 7
#9: 1, 2, 5, 6, 9


Part 2:
1. By using the four binary switches, make the 7-segment readout display numbers 1 through 8.
2. If any binary number above 9 is made by the switches, what happens to the 7-segment display? Make a chart of how the display looks for each binary number from 10 to 15.
4. Use the logic probes made earlier to determine the logic state (high or low) of the inputs and outputs of the 7448 decoder. Set the input switches to binary “7”- use the logic probe to observe the states of pins 7, 1, 2, and 6. What should they be for this input? Then, check the outputs, which are 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 15, and 14.

Any questions?

     
Click here to download:
Project_4_7_Segment_Readout.zip (209 KB)

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Project #3: Binary Numbers Display

Project #3: Binary Numbers Display

More questions and more answers.

1. By manipulating switches, any binary number from 0-15 can be shown on the LED readouts.
2. What switches must be turned on to make the numbers 2         2       , 3      1 and 2     , 5      1 and 3     , 13      1, 3, and 4     ?
3. What is the maximum count that can be achieved with 3 LEDs?    7   . With 5 LEDs?    31  .
4. What is the relationship between the maximum count that can be achieved with a number of LEDs and the weight of the next LED if it were added?

value of next LED - 1 = maximum value of LED


Have a nice day!

Oh, and any questions?

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Project #1: A Simple LED Indicator and Project #2: Logic Probe

Because you can just move one wire and change it from one to the other, I decided to merge these posts.

Project #1: A Simple LED Indicator
Pretty simple, it's an LED that indicates. Any questions?

Project #2: Logic Probe #1
Some questions with some answers:

1. Touch the input "probe" wire to the 5V source. What is the result?

The LED lights up.
2. Touch the probe to the source ground. What was the result?
The LED doesn't light up.
3. Explain the operation of this simple logic probe.
When a 5V source is attached to the end of the probe, current travels through the LED, lighting it up. However, when a ground wire (or any wire not carrying current) is attached to the probe, since there is no current, the LED won't light up.

Any more questions?

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