What you should have learned

After completing this lab you should know how a power supply converts alternating voltage levels into the DC voltages used in many electrical systems. The circuit uses diodes to rectify the time-varying voltage and then uses an RC circuit to convert it to a DC voltage level. You also learned what a Zener diode was. Finally you were shown how to use a semiconductor voltage regulator to step down a voltage to a safe 5 volt level.