Half-Wave Rectifier with Oscilloscope
One diode turns a 12 V, 60 Hz AC source into pulsing DC across a 1 Ω load. Channel 1 shows the output and channel 2 the diode voltage; add a filter…
Use this circuit in class: Half-wave rectifier lab: from AC to DC with a filter capacitor
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Try the free classroom demoHow it works
Only the positive halves of the sine wave reach the load, because the diode blocks the negative halves. Channel 1 of the oscilloscope shows the pulses across the load and channel 2 shows the voltage across the diode.
Set the load to 1 kΩ and add a 1000 µF capacitor across it: the output stays between about 11.1 V and 11.3 V, and the diode now has to block about 23 V, nearly twice the peak.
What's inside
- 1× Power Source (1 V 10 Hz)
- 1× Resistor (1 Ω)
- 1× Diode
- Measured with Oscilloscope
