This document describes an experiment investigating diodes and rectification circuits. Students drew diode symbols, learned that diodes only allow current to flow in one direction, and built circuits using diodes, generators, light bulbs, and power supplies. They observed that diodes allow current from the generator to light the bulb in one direction but not the other, and that connecting the circuit to AC power produced a rectified waveform across the bulb. Adding a capacitor in parallel smoothed out the waveform. Students analyzed circuit diagrams and determined how current flows through full-bridge rectifier circuits.
This document describes an experiment investigating diodes and rectification circuits. Students drew diode symbols, learned that diodes only allow current to flow in one direction, and built circuits using diodes, generators, light bulbs, and power supplies. They observed that diodes allow current from the generator to light the bulb in one direction but not the other, and that connecting the circuit to AC power produced a rectified waveform across the bulb. Adding a capacitor in parallel smoothed out the waveform. Students analyzed circuit diagrams and determined how current flows through full-bridge rectifier circuits.
This document describes an experiment investigating diodes and rectification circuits. Students drew diode symbols, learned that diodes only allow current to flow in one direction, and built circuits using diodes, generators, light bulbs, and power supplies. They observed that diodes allow current from the generator to light the bulb in one direction but not the other, and that connecting the circuit to AC power produced a rectified waveform across the bulb. Adding a capacitor in parallel smoothed out the waveform. Students analyzed circuit diagrams and determined how current flows through full-bridge rectifier circuits.
This document describes an experiment investigating diodes and rectification circuits. Students drew diode symbols, learned that diodes only allow current to flow in one direction, and built circuits using diodes, generators, light bulbs, and power supplies. They observed that diodes allow current from the generator to light the bulb in one direction but not the other, and that connecting the circuit to AC power produced a rectified waveform across the bulb. Adding a capacitor in parallel smoothed out the waveform. Students analyzed circuit diagrams and determined how current flows through full-bridge rectifier circuits.
Objective: Understand the properties of diodes and why they are useful in circuits. 1. Use your blue data booklet to draw the symbol for a diode.
2. Look up why the diode has a triangle in the symbol. Also explain how a diode functions Explain what it means!
3. Please connect a hand generator, diode, and light bulb in series with each other. What do you notice when you spin the hand generator?
4. What do you feel in terms of force when you spin each direction?
5. Connect your circuit to the AC power source. Do not use a voltage over 5. Attach the voltage probe across the bulb and connect it to logger pro. Record the voltage over time. Due to differences between the frequency of the electricity and the frequency of the probe, it takes a while to observe the result. Be patient. Sketch the graph produced by your bulb system.
6. Is this a rectifier circuit? Why or why not?
7. Could this circuit be used to charge a battery? Explain.
8. Build this using the diodes and the breadboard. Observe what happens when you spin the generator each direction:
9. Draw another copy of this diagram. On one diagram, draw the path of current through the circuit in one direction. In the other diagram, draw the path of current the opposite way.
10. Take your breadboard setup to an AC power supply. Do not use a voltage over 5, for the sake of the diodes. Then hook up this circuit to that power supply. It should work the same as before. Test to verify. Then attach the voltage probe to your circuit to measure the voltage across the bulb. 11. Use Logger Pro to collect the voltage data across the bulb. Draw a sketch of the output below.
12. In the bag, you should find a capacitor. Add it to your circuit so that it is in parallel with the bulb, as shown in the circuit below. You might have to get a bit creative with how you attach it to your circuit. Collect the voltage across the battery data for this setup. Draw that graph produced. Describe differences in the shape of the graph and explain why they are there. 13. If time permits, re-create the original circuit from the first part of the investigation. Make the voltmeter run parallel with the bulb again, and check out the graph produced by that scenario. Draw that graph below.
14. In the full rectification circuit in problem 8, the current goes through one diode then through the diode/lamp combo and then back through another diode in the rectification circuit. Is it possible to instead design a circuit that goes through the both diodes in the rectification circuit before then going through the diode/lamp combo but still acts as a rectification circuit? Look at rectification circuits online to help you decide if you are correct!
For example: These look different, but if you look carefully they are the same:
15. Summarize what you learned/reinforced in this experience.
