Seeing electricity turn things on and off is a lot of fun, but we also need to have methods to see what’s going on in the circuit. What good is an alarm clock with numbers? Or a clock with no hands? In this experiment we’ll see how to use the learning lab’s meter to tell us what a circuit is doing.


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2 Responses to “Build a Fixed Voltage Divider”

  1. Yes, you should always discharge capacitors before testing them. This insures that a unsafe high voltage doesn’t damage your meter. To discharge a capacitor, just short the leads on the capacitor together with a short
    length of wire. And no, you can’t test capacitors with the power on.

  2. What is a safe way to manually discharge a capacitor (without damaging the capacitor itself)? I have the 8300 series digital multimeter provided in your kit; do I need to discharge capacitors before testing them? Can I test
    capacitors with the power on?