modified 9 years ago

Unintentional capacitive coupling

01:02:04

Often, a broken connection between a circuit and oscilloscope probe can act as a tiny capacitor. This capacitance combines with the probe's input resistance to form a differentiator.

Note: this circuit includes a relay (activated by pulses) to simulate a broken connection between the signal source (left) and oscilloscope (right).

Rather than showing the square wave, instead the scope shows a differentiated signal with voltage peaks and valleys at the edges of the square wave (when voltage is changing rapidly).

published 9 years ago

add comment in editor

EveryCircuit is an easy to use, highly interactive circuit simulator and schematic capture tool. Real-time circuit simulation, interactivity, and dynamic visualization make it a must have application for professionals and academia. EveryCircuit user community has collaboratively created the largest searchable library of circuit designs. EveryCircuit app runs online in popular browsers and on mobile phones and tablets, enabling you to capture design ideas and learn electronics on the go.