Chapter 9
Catching Waves with an Oscilloscope
IN THIS CHAPTER
Learning what an oscilloscope is
Getting started with an oscilloscope
Calibrating your scope
Looking at waveforms
Electronics can generate some gnarly waves, dude. You’ll encounter all kinds of totally hairy waves in your electronic circuits. You meet sine waves, which just roll along nice and easy, like corduroy on the horizon. Sawtooth waves are epic: They ride up slow, then drop you way fast. And of course, square waves. They’re just, you know, square.
Your basic multimeter, which you learn about in the preceding chapter, is essential. You can’t do electronics without one. In this chapter, I tell you about another incredibly useful tool, called an oscilloscope. Although a voltmeter can give you a simple number that represents voltage, an oscilloscope can draw a picture of voltage. And, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words — er, numbers.
Why is a picture so much more valuable than a number, when it comes to voltage? Because in all but the simplest circuits, voltage is always in motion; it’s always changing, ...
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