2022 – 2023

INTENSITY VARIATION OF LDR BASED

ON THE DISTANCE
PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY PROJECT
Submitted by: S. NITHISH
Regd. No:
To the faculty of Physics
In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the project work of

GRADE XII
BRANCH OF PHYSICS

SRI NACHAMMAL VIDYAVANI SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL

(CBSE)

BATCH: 2022- 2023

CENTRAL BOARD OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

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 2022-2023

SRI NACHAMMAL VIDYAVANI SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL

Affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi

Devarayampalayam, By Pass Road, Avinashi, Tirupur – 641654

Phone: +914296291744, 7708007968

Email:info@nachammal.com

INVESTIGATORY PROJECT 2022-2023

042-PHYSICS

NAME : S. NITHISH

CLASS : XII – B

REGISTER NO :

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 SRI NACHAMMAL VIDYAVANI SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL
PHYSICS Investigatory Project

2022-2023
BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE Certificate to be the bonafide work done by
S. Nithish
Of class XII in Sri Nachammal Vidyavani Senior Secondary School, Physics
department during the academic year 2022-2023.

DATE: TEACHER INCHARGE

Submitted for the practical examination held on. ......................at Sri
Nachammal Vidyavani Senior Secondary School, Devarampalayam, Avinashi.

NAME OF CANDIDATE S. NITHISH

REGISTER NO

CENTRE CODE

EXTERNAL EXAMINER SCHOOL SEAL PRINCIPA

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 CONTENTS

S.NO CONTENT PAGE

01 INTRODUCTION 06

02 AIM 06

03 APPARATUS REQUIRED 06

04 DESCRIPTION OF MATERIAL USED 09

05 PROCEDURE 14

06 OBSERVATION 14

07 CONCLUSION 16

08 BIBILIOGRAPHY 16

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 2022-2023

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

“Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful

things human can do for each other”.
First and foremost, I would like to thank God Almighty for
giving me the strength, knowledge, ability and opportunity to
undertake this research study and to persevere and complete it
satisfactorily.
I respect and thank our Correspondent, for providing me an
opportunity to do the project work in Sri Nachammal Vidyavani
Senior Secondary School and giving us all support and guidance
made me to complete the project duly.
I owe my deep gratitude to our Principal Ms. V. Sharmila
Sunitha M.Sc., M.Ed., who took keen interest in my project work
and guided us all along till the completion of my project.
I am thankful and fortunate enough to get constant
encouragement, support and guidance from my PHYSICS Teacher
Mr. M. Santhanaraj who helped me in completing my project
successfully.
I would like to thank my Parents and Friends who helped me a
lot in finalizing this project and helped me in completing the project.
Finally, I would like to thank CBSE for giving me this opportunity to
undertake this project.

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 LIGHT DEPENDENT RESISTOR

INTRODUCTION

A Light Dependent Resistor (also known as a photoresistor or LDR) is

a device whose resistivity is a function of the incident electromagnetic
radiation. Hence, they are light-sensitive devices. They are also called
as photoconductors, photoconductive cells or simply photocells.

They are made up of semiconductor materials that have high resistance.

There are many different symbols used to indicate a photoresistor or
LDR, one of the most commonly used symbols is shown in the figure
below. The arrow indicates light falling on it.

AIM:

To study the variations, in current flowing in a circuit containing a LDR

in:

• Dark condition with voltage being varried In the distance of a

incandescent lamp, (of fixed power), used to ‘illuminate’ the
LDR.
• In presence of Lamp with distance being varied.

APPARATUS REQUIRED:
Light Dependent Resistor (LDR), Connecting Wires, Source of
different power rating(bulbs), Bulb Holder, Metre scale, Multi Meter
Battery.

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Photo resistor discovery

Photo resistors, or light dependent resistors have been in use for very
many years. Photo resistors have been seen in early forms since the
nineteenth century when photoconductivity in selenium was
discovered by Smith in 1873. Since then many variants of
photoconductive devices have been made.

Much useful work was conducted by T. W. Case in 1920 when he

published a paper entitled "Thalofide Cell - a new photo-electric cell".
Other substances including PbS, PbSe and PbTe were studied in the
1930s and 1940s, and then in 1952, Rollin and Simmons developed
their photoconductors using silicon and germanium.

Photoresistor mechanism
A photoresistor or photocell is a component that uses a photoconductor
between two contacts. When this is exposed to light a change in
resistance is noted. Photoconductivity - the mechanism behind the
photoresistor - results from the generation of mobile carriers when
photons are absorbed by the semiconductor material used for the
photoconductor. While the different types of material used for light
dependent resistors are semiconductors, when used as a photo-resistor,
they are used only as a resistive element and there are no PN junctions.
Accordingly, the device is purely passive.
There are two types of photoconductors and hence photoresistor:

• Intrinsic photoresistor: This type of photoresistor uses a

photoconductive material that involves excitation of charge
carriers from the valence bands to the conduction band.

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 • Extrinsic photoresistor: This type of photoresistor uses a
photoconductive material that involves excitation of charge
carriers between an impurity and the valence band or conduction
band. It requires shallow impurity dopants that are not ionised in
the
presence of light.

• Extrinsic photoresistors or photocells are generally designed

for long wavelength radiation - often infra-red, but to avoid
thermal generation they need to be operated at low temperatures.

PRINCIPLE

This project is based on Light Dependent Resistance (L.D.R.). Light

Dependent Resistance [LDR] is a resistance, in which opposing power
of current depends on the presence of quantity of light present, i.e. the
resistance of LDR increases or decreases, according to quantity of light
which falls on it.

If LDR places in darkness, the resistance of LDR increases and when

light falls on it, the resistance of LDR decreases and act as a conductor.
Any LDR in the presence of light and darkness changes its resistance
is depends on the different types of LDR.

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ADVANTAGES

• Collection of parts of the circuit are easily available.

• Accuracy of this circuit is more than accuracy of other circuits.
• By using laser, it can be used for security purposes.
• It can be used to stop the wastage of electricity.
• The cost of circuit is low.
• This circuit saves the men's power.

USES

• It can be used in street lights.

• It can be used in mines areas.
• It can be used in hilly areas.
• By using laser, it can be used for safety purposes.
• It can be used in frontier areas.
• It can be used in houses.
• It can be used in jail lights.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF MATERIALS

1. TRANSISTOR:-When a thin slice of p-type is sandwiched between

two blocks of n-type, then n-p-n transistor is formed. It consists of
emitter, base, and collector. In the project, common emitter n-p-n
transistor ( BC-147 & SL-100) is used.

2. DIODE:- When a p-type and n-type semiconductors are joined a

diode is formed. It conducts when forward biased and does not conduct

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when reverse biased. In the project, IN-4007diode is used.

3. RELAY:- It helps to contact and discontact. In the project, we use

relay of 6 ohms.

4. CARBON RESISTOR:- A carbon resistor has generally four rings

or bands A,B,C and D of different colours corresponding to the value
of resistance. In project, we use carbon resistance of 220 kilo-ohms, 1.5
kilo-ohms and 820 ohms.

5. LDR:- LDR means light dependent resistance which is used to

complete the circuit.

6. TRANSFORMER:- Transformer is used to convert low alternating

voltage to high alternating voltage by decreasing the current and vice
versa. We use a transformer of 6-0-6V for the circuit.

7. CAPACITOR:- Capacitor is used to block DC. In the circuit, we

use the capacitor of 220mfd and 1000mfd.

8. BULB:- An electric bulb is connected to the circuit when LDR

comes in the darkness.

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9. PHOTORESISTOR:-

A photoresistor (or light-dependent resistor, LDR, or photocell) is

a light- controlled variable resistor. The resistance of a photoresistor
decreases with increasing incident light intensity; in other words, it
exhibits photoconductivity. A photoresistor can be applied in light-
sensitive detector circuits, and light- and darkactivated switching
circuits. A photoresistor is made of a high resistance semiconductor.
In the dark, a photoresistor can have a resistance as high as several
megohms (MΩ), while in the light, a photoresistor can have a resistance
as low as a few hundred ohms. If incident light on a photoresistor
exceeds a certain frequency, photons absorbed by the semiconductor
give bound electrons enough energy to jump into the conduction band.
The resulting free electrons (and their hole partners) conduct electricity,
thereby lowering resistance. The resistance range and sensitivity of a
photoresistor can substantially differ among dissimilar devices.
Moreover, unique photoresistors may react substantially differently to
photons within certain wavelength bands.

A photoelectric device can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. An intrinsic

semiconductor has its own charge carriers and is not an efficient
semiconductor, for example, silicon. In intrinsic devices the only
available electrons are in the valence band, and hence the photon must
have enough energy to excite the electron across the entire band gap.
Extrinsic devices have impurities, also called dopants, added whose

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ground state energy is closer to the conduction band; since the electrons
do not have as far to jump, lower energy photons (that is, longer
wavelengths and lower frequencies) are sufficient to trigger the device.
If a sample of silicon has some of its atoms replaced by phosphorus
atoms (impurities), there will be extra electrons available for
conduction. This is an example of an extrinsic semiconductor.

APPLICATIONS

Photoresistors come in many types. Inexpensive cadmium sulphide

cells can be found in many consumer items such as camera light meters,
clock radios, alarm devices (as the detector for a light beam),
nightlights, outdoor clocks, solar street lamps and solar road studs, etc.

Photoresistors can be placed in streetlights to control when the light is

on. Ambient light falling on the photoresistor causes the streetlight to
turn off. Thus energy is saved by ensuring the light is only on during
hours of darkness.

They are also used in some dynamic compressors together with a small
incandescent or neon lamp, or light-emitting diode to control gain
reduction. A common usage of this application can be found in many
guitar amplifiers that incorporate an onboard tremolo effect, as the
oscillating light patterns control the level of signal running through the
amp circuit.

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The use of CdS and CdSe[3] photoresistors is severely restricted in
Europe due to the RoHS ban on cadmium.

Lead sulphide (PbS) and indium antimonide (InSb) LDRs

(light dependent resistors) are used for the mid-infrared spectral region.
Ge:Cu photoconductors are among the best far-infrared detectors
available, and are used for infrared astronomy and infrared
spectroscopy.

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

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PROCEDURE

• Choose a specific position for the source and mount it using a

holder, make sure it is stable.

• Select the bulb with the lowest power rating and connect it to the
holder as shown in the figure.

• Connect the LDR, battery (6V) and the multimeter in series.

• Set the multimeter to ohm section and select suitable range and
measure the resistance with a bulb on.

• Similarly switch to current section and move to micro ampere in

the multimeter. This gives the value of the current.

• Repeat these steps with different power sources at different

distances and note down observations.

OBSERVATIONS

The experiment has been conducted by using various sources with

different power ratings. Voltage of the battery = 6 V.

OBSERVATIONS TABLE

Variation in current of LDR with lamp, keeping distance changed and

voltage fixed….

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 S.No Distance(cm) Voltage(v) Resistance(Ω) Current(mA)

1. 7 1.7 3400 500

2. 9 1.7 4250 400

3. 10 1.7 5666.66 300

4. 14 1.7 8500 200

5. 25 1.7 17000 100

Variation in current of LDR in dark situation

S.No Voltage (V) Current (µA)

1. 2 0

2. 4 0

3. 6 0

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CONCLUSION

1. The LDR resistance decreases with increase in intensity of light

and hence there is an increase in the flow of current.
2. There is an increase in the current as the distance from the source
decreases.
3. The intensity decreases as the distance from the source increases
4. The error lies within the experimental limit.

SOURCES OF ERROR

1. The LDR may not be perpendicular to the source.

2. Connections may be faulty.
3. The experiment should be conducted in a dark room.
4. Measurements should be taken accurately

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. NCERT CLASS 12 PHYSICS TEXTBOOK

2. www.google.co.in
3. www.wikipedia.com
4. www.yahoo.co.in

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