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Op Amp Square wave MCQ

Hi.
Could I please get help on question 13 in the multiple choice in the 2000 Higher Physics past paper please.
Any help would be much appreciated.

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/wwhdepartmentPhysics/files/2011/10/Higher-Physics-2000.pdf
Reply 1
Original post by kurt123
Hi.
Could I please get help on question 13 in the multiple choice in the 2000 Higher Physics past paper please.
Any help would be much appreciated.

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/wwhdepartmentPhysics/files/2011/10/Higher-Physics-2000.pdf


I guess that they want you to choose the resistor values so that the the op-amp clips the amplified sine wave to the greatest extent - that would give you the best approximation to a square wave.

Which values are those?
Reply 2
Original post by atsruser
I guess that they want you to choose the resistor values so that the the op-amp clips the amplified sine wave to the greatest extent - that would give you the best approximation to a square wave.

Which values are those?


I'm not sure what you mean :frown: Do you have to use an equation?
Reply 3
Think about this - if you amplify a sine wave by a large factor then 'clip' the peaks off at a fixed voltage level what does the resulting wave form look like?

Op amps don't work by magic so the output of the op amp can't go outside the voltage of the supply rails, so if the op amp is operating at a sufficiently high gain the output peaks will be 'clipped'.

you need to select resistors that set the gain to be the largest number possible, this will make sure the output is getting the greatest amount of clipping.

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