Here are my thoughts on theData Conversion week's material, etc.

• This week introduces students to data conversion -A/D and D/A topics
• Started this with an in-class demo/problem.  Here is the link.
• There was one really good in-class problem I used.  Here is the link.  This problem (after I handed back a 20 minute quiz) took the entire period with good student involvement.
• Labs
• The main part of this lab asks them to determine how many bits are in the converter embedded in the Hydra Data Acquisition Unit (Used as a DVM) - an instrument they have used most of the semester.
• For next offering of this course a question has been added to the lab write-up to link this material to meter digits.
• In-Class exercises
• The sequence above works really well.  For the most part this was an active - and lively - week with the demo and the in-class problem noted above.
• Class Notes - Good
• I expanded the notes a little from what I used the last time.
• Some things to think about.
• I kept emphasizing that - in a few years - they would be in the position where they would be spending money on instruments and making those kinds of decisions.  They seemed to warm up to that idea, and apparently hadn't thought about what the might have to do in their future jobs, and it re-emphasized why they need the material in this course.
• The basic question to ask here is "Why would one voltmeter cost a lot more than another when they have the same ranges?".  The answer, obviously, is that more bits in the converter gives more precision to the measurement and the converter drives up the cost.  Going to the web you can find numerous prices that are a function of how many digits there are in a meter.
• Sensors encountered to this point in the course.
• Thermocouples
• LM35s - giving two examples of sensors with voltage outputs
• Thermistor - giving an example of a sensor with a resistance change.
• AC Tachometers
• Pressure Sensors
• Strain Gages
• Light Sensors (Photovoltaic cells)