Project Report

Submitted On To study variations

in current flowing in a circuit
containing
Light Dependence Resistance
{LDR}

Submitted by: - divyen soni

Class: - 12TH
Certificate
Index
 Acknowledgements
I would like to express my special thanks to my
teacher as well as our principal who gave me the
golden opportunity to do this wonderful project I
PHYSICS, which also helped in doing a lot of
Research. I came to know about many things. This
project couldn’t have been satisfactorily
completed without the support and guidance of
my parents.

I would like to thank my parents who helped me

in gathering diverse information, collecting data
and guiding me from time to time I making this
project, despite their busy schedule. They gave me
different ideas in making this project unique.
 Abstract
The general purpose photoconductive cell is
also known as LDR – light dependent resistor.
It is a type of semiconductor and its
conductivity changes with proportional
change in the intensity of light. There are two
common types of materials used to
manufacture the photoconductive cells. They
are Cadmium Sulphide (CdS) and Cadmium
Selenide (CdSe). Extrinsic devices have
impurities added, which have a ground state
energy closer to the conduction band - since
the electrons don't have as far to jump, lower
energy photons (i.e. longer wavelengths and
lower frequencies) are sufficient to trigger the
device. Two of its earliest applications were as
part of smoke and fire detection systems and
camera light meters. The structure is covered
with glass sheet to protect it from moisture
and dust and allows only light to fall on it.

Objective
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.
 Theory
1.) LDR and its characteristics when light is
incident on it, a photon is absorbed and thereby
it excites an electron from valence band into
conduction band. Due to such new electrons
coming up in conduction band area, the
electrical resistance of the device decreases.
Thus the LDR or photo-conductive transducer
has the resistance which is the inverse function
of radiation intensity.

Here we must note that any radiation with

wavelength greater than the value obtained in
above equation CANNOT PRODUCE any
change in the resistance of this device. The band
gap energy of Cadmium Sulphide is 2.42eV and
for Cadmium Selenide it is1.74eV. Due to such
large energy gaps, both the materials have
extremely high resistivity at room temperature.
 Characteristics of
photoconductive cells
 Now when the device is kept in darkness, its
resistance is called as dark resistance. This
resistance is typically of the order of 1013 ohms.
When light falls on it, its resistance decreases up
to several kilo ohms or even hundreds of ohms,
depending on the intensity of light, falling on it.
The spectral response characteristics of two
commercial cells were compared in our laboratory.
And we found that there is almost no response to
the radiation of a wavelength which was shorter
than 300nm. It was very interesting to note that the
Cadmium Sulphide cell has a peak response nearer
or within the green color of the spectrum within a
range of 520nm. Thus it can be used nearer to the
infra-red region up to 750nm.
 It was found that the maximum response of
Cadmium Sulphoselenide is in the yellow-orange
range at 615nm and also it can be used in the
infra-red region up to about 970nm.

 Sensitivity
The sensitivity of a photo detector is the
relationship between the light falling on the
device and the resulting output signal. In the
case of a photocell, one is dealing with the
relationship between the incident light and the
sss

 Spectral Response
Like the human eye, the relative sensitivity of a
photoconductive cell is dependent on the
wavelength (color) of the incident light. Each
photoconductor material type has its own unique
spectral response curve or plot of the relative
response of the photocell versus wavelength of
light.
 Materials Required
• Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)
• Connecting Wires
• Source of different power rating
(bulbs)
• Bulb Holder
• Meter scale
• Multi Meter
• Battery
Circuit Diagram
 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
 Application
Lead sulfide (PbS) and indium
antimonide (InSb) LDRs are used for
the mid infrared spectral region. GeCu
photoconductors are among the best
farinfrared detectors available, and are
used for infrared astronomy and
infrared spectroscopy.