3: Operational Amplifiers
- Page ID
- 332626
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- 3.1: Operational Amplifiers
- An operational amplifier (or op amp, for short) is an electrical circuit that has a variety of uses, a few of which we consider in this section: how to amplify and measure the signal from a transducer (detector), and how to perform mathematical operations on signals. In this section we will provide a basic overview of operational amplifiers without worrying about the specific internal details of its electrical circuit.
- 3.2: Operational Amplifier Circuits
- In the last section we noted that an operational amplifier magnifies the difference between two voltage inputs where the gain is typically between 10,000 and 1,000,000. To better control the gain—that is, to make the gain something we can adjust to meet our needs—the operational amplifier is incorporated into a circuit that allows for feedback between the output and the inputs. In this section, we examine two feedback circuits.
- 3.3: Amplification and Measurement of Signals
- The basic components of an instrument are a probe that interacts with the sample, an input transducer that converts the sample's chemical and/or physical properties into an electrical signal, a signal processor that converts the electrical signal into a form we can understand. Information is encoded in two broad ways: as electrical information and as information in other, non-electrical forms. In this section we will consider how we can measure electrical signals.
- 3.4: Mathematical Operations Using Operational Amplifiers
- The circuit for comparing two voltages is an example of using an operational amplifier to complete a mathematical operation. In this section we will examine several additional examples of mathematical operations completed using operational amplifiers.