6/29/2019

Submitted by
Aryan Patel
Class XII Z
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Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special
thanks of gratitude to my teacher (Mr.
Vishal Solanki) as well as our principal
(Mr. Sachdeva) who gave me the
golden opportunity to do this
wonderful project on the topic LDR
Circuit, which helped me in doing a lot
of research and I came to know about
so many new things. I am really
thankful to them.
Secondly I would also like to thank my
parents and friends who helped me a
lot in finalizing this project within the
limited time frame.

Aryan Patel
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Certificate Of Merit
This is to certify that Aryan Patel of class XII Z
has successfully completed the investigatory
project on “TO STUDY VARIATION OF
CURRENT USING A LDR" under the guidance
of Mr. Vishal Solanki.

Physics Department Sign Of

(Mr. Vishal Solanki) External

________________ ______________
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
i.
CERTIFICATE OF MERIT
ii.
1. INTRODUCTION
2
2. AIM & APPARATUS
3
3. PHOTORESISTOR
DISCOVERY AND 4-5
MECHANISM
4. PRINCIPLE & THEORY
5-6
5. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF
6-8
COMPONENTS
6. APPLICATIONS
9
7. PROCEDURE
10
8. OBSERVATIONS
11-14
9. RESULT &
CONCLUSIONS 15

10. BIBLOGRAPHY
16
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INDEX

INTRODUCTION
Sometimes we see that street lights glow in day time due to any
reason. In remote areas people face many difficulties due to
absence of light in the night time. In frontier and hilly areas,
people face many problems due to damaged street lights.
To solve the above problems, we have created a device which
enables the lights to glow automatically in night and in day time,
they turn off automatically. With this device, we can solve above
problems and can also save electricity.
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AIM: To study the variations, in current flowing in a circuit

containing a LDR, because of a variation:-
(a) In the power of the incandescent lamp, used to ‘illuminate’ the
LDR. (Keeping all the lamps at a fixed distance).
(b) In the distance of an incandescent lamp, (of fixed power),
used to ‘illuminate’ the LDR.

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

Photo-resistor mechanism
A photo-resistor 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 photo-resistor -
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
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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 photoconductor and hence photo-

resistor:
 Intrinsic photo-resistor: This type of photo-resistor uses
a photoconductive material that involves excitation of
charge carriers from the valence bands to the conduction
band.
 Extrinsic photo-resistor: This type of photo-resistor 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 photo-resistors 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.
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PRINCIPLE
Light Dependent Resistance [LDR] is a resistor, 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 is placed 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 and depends on the different
types of LDR.

ADVANTAGES
Collection of parts of the circuit are easily available.
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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.
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 DISCRIPTION OF
COMPONENTS
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 when reverse biased. In the project, IN-4007diode is
used.
3. RELAY:- It helps to connect and disconnect. In the project, we
use relay of 6 ohms.
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4. CARBON RESISTOR:- A carbon resistor has generally four

rings or bands A,B,C and D of different colors corresponding to
the value of resistance. Here, 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.

Photo-resistor

Type Passive

Working Photoconductivity
principle
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7. CAPACITOR:- Capacitor is used

Electronic symbol
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
The symbol for a photo-
comes in the darkness.
resistor
9.PHOTO-RESISTOR-
A photo-resistor (or light-dependent resistor, LDR,
or photocell) is a light-controlled variable resistor.
The resistance of a photo-resistor decreases with increasing
incident light intensity; in other words, it
exhibits photoconductivity. A photo-resistor can be applied in
light-sensitive detector circuits, and light- and dark-activated
switching circuits.
A photo-resistor is made of a high resistance semiconductor. In
the dark, a photo-resistor can have a resistance as high as
several mega ohms (MΩ), while in light, a photo-resistor can
have a resistance as low as a few hundred ohms.
If incident light on a photo-resistor exceeds a
certain frequency, photons absorbed by the semiconductor
provide bounded 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
photo-resistor can substantially differ among dissimilar devices.
Moreover, unique photo-resistors may react substantially
differently to photons within certain wavelength bands.
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Applications
Photo-resistors are of 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.
Photo-resistors can be placed in streetlights to control when the
light is turns on. Ambient light falling on the photo-resistor 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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Lead sulphide (PbS) and indium antimonide (InSb) LDRs (light-

dependent resistors) are used for the mid-infrared spectral
region. GeCu photoconductors are among the best far-
infrared detectors available, and are used for infrared
astronomy and infrared spectroscopy.

PROCEDURE
1. Choose a specific position for the source and mount it using
a holder, make sure it is stable.
2. Select the bulb with the lowest power rating and connect it
to the holder as shown in the figure.
3. Connect the LDR, battery (6V) and the multi-meter in series.
4. Set the multi-meter to ohm section and select suitable range
and measure the resistance with a bulb on.
5. Similarly switch to current section and move to micro
ampere in the multi-meter. This gives the value of the
current.
6. Repeat these steps with different power sources at different
distances and note down observations.
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OBSERVATIONS :-
The experiment has been conducted by using various sources
with different power ratings. Voltage of the battery = 6 V.

OBSERVATION TABLE :-
(a) Variation in current of LDR with lamps of different power,
keeping distance fixed.

Distance
Source(Bulb)
Sr. between Resistance(Ω
Of power Current(mA)
No. LDR and )
inputs(W)
the
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source
d(cm)
1. 10 15 1310 4.58
2. 10 30 770 7.00
3. 10 60 285 21.00
4. 10 100 195 30.00

1. 20 15 2800 2.14
2. 20 60 650 9.00
3. 20 100 435 13.79

1. 30 15 4300 1.4
2. 30 60 1000 6.00
3. 30 100 660 9.00

(b) Variation in current of LDR with distance :-

FOR 15 W POWER SOURCE

Distance
between LDR Resistance(Ω
Sr. No. Current(µA)
and the source )
d(cm)
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1. 4 1010 5.94
2. 6 1350 4.44
3. 8 1490 4.03
4. 10 1610 3.73
5. 12 1740 3.45
6. 14 1880 3.19
7. 16 2300 2.61
8. 18 2540 2.36
9. 20 2800 2.14
10. 22 3000 2.00
11. 24 3240 1.85

FOR 60 W POWER SOURCE

Distance
Sr. between LDR
Resistance(Ω ) Current(mA)
No. and the source
d(cm)
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1. 4 105 57
2. 6 180 33
3. 8 230 26
4. 10 280 21
5. 12 360 16
6. 14 440 13
7. 16 500 12
8. 18 575 10
9. 20 675 8.8
10. 22 740 8.1
11. 24 820 7.3

FOR 100 W POWER SOURCE

Distance
Sr. between LDR
Resistance(Ω ) Current(mA)
No. and the source
d(cm)
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1. 4 80 75
2. 6 130 46
3. 8 170 35
4. 10 205 29
5. 12 270 22
6. 14 300 20
7. 16 360 16
8. 18 410 14
9. 20 460 13
10. 22 525 11
11. 24 585 10

CONCLUSION & RESULT

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
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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