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In Latin oscillare means "to swing", and our word oscillation usually means "vibration" or "variation", especially in a changing flow of electricity. The oscilloscope basically draws a graph of an electrical signal. Since all kinds of physical phenomena can be converted into an electric voltage, oscilloscopes can be used to measure such things as sound, light, and heat. So an oscilloscope can analyze how one clarinet's sound is different from another's, or how one bulb's light differs from another's. Auto mechanics use oscilloscopes to measure engine vibrations; doctors use them to measure brain waves. Audio technicians use oscilloscopes to diagnose problems in audio equipment; TV and radio technicians use them to diagnose TV and radio problems. But oscilloscopes are most essential today to high-tech electronics experimentation.

Examples of oscilloscope in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Its most recent product, called Moku:Go, delivers the functionality of an oscilloscope, constant temperature controller, logic analyzer, arbitrary waveform generator, data logger, spectrum analyzer and other tasks in one device. — Mike Freeman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 May 2021 Using an oscilloscope, the attacker monitors the energy consumption of the device. — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 10 Nov. 2020 Ekanayake spent the remainder of the afternoon going back and forth from his lab to the parking garage—carrying his multimeter, his soldering station, his oscilloscope and numerous bags of cables, wires and circuit boards. — Dieynaba Young, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 July 2020 In 1943 Bell Labs discovered that a teletype machine would cause a nearby oscilloscope's readings to move every time someone typed on it. — Andy Greenberg, Wired, 21 June 2020 Godfather to Oregon’s technology industry, Tektronix makes oscilloscopes that engineers use to measure the performance of electronic devices. — Mike Rogoway, oregonlive, 7 Nov. 2019 Tektronix makes oscilloscopes and similar instruments that engineers use to test and evaluate electronic devices. — Mike Rogoway, oregonlive, 4 Sep. 2019 The pocket oscilloscope, the Raspberry Pi radio, the voice changer, the mini voltmeter, and an LED glove. — Eric Johnson, Recode, 27 Aug. 2018 Batting a ball back and forth is one of the oldest concepts in video games, dating back to the days of William Higinbotham’s Tennis for Two oscilloscope experiments in the ‘50s. — Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 22 June 2018 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'oscilloscope.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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