As part of your 1106: Electricity & Magnetism lab experience, you will be required to use a variety of lab equipment that is a bit more involved that what you were used to in the 1105: Mechanics lab. In this activity, you will be introduced to the common lab equipment that you will use in several of the labs this semester. Keep this worksheet as a reference for yourself in the case you should need a reminder on how to use the equipment. You are required to be prepared prior to every lab and this includes the use of the lab equipment.

In the lab, you will use the digital multi-meter to measure quantities such as resistance ($\Omega$), voltage (V), and current (A).

The center knob is divided into three different regions corresponding to resistance, voltage, and current (as shown in figure 2).

You will notice that each section is separated into different ranges. Depending on what you are measuring, you may have to play with what range you set the knob to. For example, if you are measuring the resistance of a $30\,\Omega$ resistor, you will set the knob to the $200\,\Omega$ setting to get the best reading. You could set it any of the higher resistance ranges, but this will result in a less precise measurement. If you were to measure a $5000\,\Omega$ (or $5\,\mathrm{k}\Omega$) resistor, you would need to set your knob to the $20\,\mathrm{k}\Omega$ range. Anything below this will not be able to measure the resistance of the $5\,\mathrm{k}\Omega$ resistor because this is outside of that setting’s range. If you were to try and use the $2\,\mathrm{k}\Omega$ setting to measure this resistor, you would get the following reading on your DMM (figure 3).

All this applies when taking voltage and current measurements as well. To use the DMM, you will need the banana-to-alligator cables displayed in figure 4. The cables should connect to the DMM in the following manner (figure 5).

Ask your TA about the difference between banana and alligator connectors. If your cable has a banana plug, get a plug to turn one banana side into alligator clips.

When taking a resistance measurement, you must connect the DMM to either side of the component you are trying to measure the resistance of (as shown below). In the example below in figures 6 and 7. Shown is the measurement of a $470\,\Omega$ resistor. Note the knob position of the resistance setting due to the value of the resistor.

To take a voltage measurement, you would also connect the DMM to either side of the component in the same manner as just shown. You will practice taking resistance and voltage measurements with the DMM in your Error Analysis lab.

In this lab we use the RIGOL DM3068 digital multimeter.

• DM3068 user guide including uncertainties and specifications

In the lab, to provide a voltage through a component/circuit we will be using a power supply, see 8. Using the power supply, we can control how much voltage and current we are outputting.

By using the arrows, we can scroll through the voltage and current inputs as shown below.

Using the “Fine” button, we can change which decimal place. For example, if we want to change our input voltage from $3.000\,\mathrm{V}$ to $3.020\,\mathrm{V}$, we would press the “Fine” button until we get to the correct decimal place and use the big knob to change the value. You can see this process in figure 10 below. To connect the power supply to a circuit, we use the connectors as shown in figure 11.

For guides on how to use the Oscilloscope and Function Generator, please reference the corresponding PowerPoint found in the Files tab of your canvas.