QUANTUM THEORY DETECTOR

THE CIRCUIT
The quantum theory detector works similarly to the Schrödinger’s cat analogy of how light can exist
as particles and as waves. The two alternating LEDs in the circuit are representative of Schrödinger’s
cat’s state - it can be dead, or alive, or dead and alive at the same time (according to quantum theory).
Because of the way the circuit is constructed, the two LEDs can never be switched on at the same
time, just like outside of the quantum realm, a cat cannot be dead and alive at the same time. However,
in the impossible instance that the two LEDs did become switched on at the same time, the buzzer
would sound. So the purpose of the circuit concept is that it can be placed inside a cardboard box (like
Schrödinger’s cat) so that nobody can see inside, while the two LEDs alternate being switched on and
off. It’s called a quantum theory detector because the buzzer would sound in the event that a quantum
instance occurred inside the cardboard box, in order to alert bystanders.

Circuit Diagram:

R1 R2 R3 R4
330Ω 10kΩ 10kΩ 330Ω
R5
S LED1 LED2
2kΩ
C1 C2

100µF 100µF

+9V
74LS00 IC
Bt T1 T2 Bz

R6 R7 IC
100Ω 100Ω

Bt 9V battery to supply the circuit with enough electricity to power all the
components.

S Switch that allows the circuit to be turned on and off.

R1 and R4 330Ω resistors that protect the LEDs from being destroyed by current overload.

R2 and R3 10kΩ protective resistors for the capacitors so they don’t charge too quickly.
They also protect the transistors from current overload through the base.

LED1 and LED2 Light emitting diodes that take turns to light up when their corresponding
transistors are switched on.

© Sarah Don, Australia, 2008

C1 and C2 100µF capacitors which are the main components in the two timing circuits that
make the LEDs alternate on and off. While C1 is charging, C2 is discharging
which provides a current through the base of T1 which turns of LED1. LED1 stays
lit up until C2 has discharged enough so that the voltage through the base of T1 is
less than 0.6V (the minimum voltage for the transistor to be switched on). When
T1 switches off, LED1 switches off and the situation is reversed so that C2 begins
to charge up and the cycle begins again.

T1 and T2 Transistors that act as switches to allow the capacitors to take turns to charge and
discharge, allowing the LEDs to oscillate.

R6 and R7 100Ω resistors that provide a voltage rise between the transistor and 0V rail so
that the integrated circuit (IC) can pick up the high and low voltage signals.

R5 The battery provides the circuit with 9V but the IC can only handle 5V so R 5
drops the voltage and thus acts as a protective resistor for the IC.

IC Integrated circuit consisting of four NAND gates. In order to translate two high
signals into a high signal (if the two LEDs were ever switched on at the same
time, causing current to flow through both transistors), the IC has to behave as an
AND gate. An AND gate can be made by putting two NAND gates together as
shown in table 1 and figure 2.
Table 1 – Truth tables of AND and NAND gates Figure 2 – Signal translations
A B NAND AND 1 0
0 0 1 0 0 1
0 1 1 0
1 0
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1
The integrated circuit requires ~5V to work and the logic gates require a voltage
rise of 2 volts in order to detect a signal above other interference.

Bz Buzzer that sounds when the IC outputs a high signal indicating that both LEDs
are switched on at the same time. So, in practise, the buzzer should never sound.
However, in order to make sure that the buzzer is actually working, a short circuit
test can be done. By connecting the two inputs into the first NAND gate together,
the NAND gate should produce a high signal, causing the buzzer to sound.

Each of the components in the circuit has its own important part to play in making the circuit
work as a whole. Certain components have voltage and current limits, which when reached, could
damage the component. If one of the components, for example a transistor, is damaged then the
current would not flow through the correct paths and the timing circuit would fail. The following
investigation is specific to the role of capacitors within the quantum theory detector.

© Sarah Don, Australia, 2008

 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION

Aim:
To investigate the relationship between the frequency at which the LEDs oscillate on and off
and the capacitance of the capacitors.

Hypothesis:
As the capacitance of the capacitors increases, the LEDs oscillate slower.

Safety:

 An electric shock may be experienced if the 9V battery is short-circuited through the body.
 Short-circuiting the capacitors or transistors may cause them to burn or explode.

Materials:

 2x 330Ω resistor  13x connecting wires  Switch

 2x 100Ω resistor  9V battery  Stopwatch
 2x 10k Ω resistor  74LS00 integrated circuit  2x assorted capacitors
 2k Ω resistor  Micro-lab Electronics (47µF, 100µF, 220µF,
 2x LED breadboard 330µF, 470µF)
 2x transistor  Buzzer

330Ω 10kΩ 10kΩ 330Ω

2kΩ

100µF 100µF

+9V
74LS00 IC

100Ω 100Ω

Diagram 1 – Setup of circuit

© Sarah Don, Australia, 2008

Method:

1. The circuit was constructed as shown in Diagram 1.

2. The pair of 47µF capacitors was inserted into the circuit and the number of flashes in one
minute for a single LED was recorded using a stopwatch.
3. Step 2 was repeated for each of the other pairs of capacitors (100µF, 220µF, 330µF, 470µF).
4. The time between flashes was found by dividing 60 (seconds) by the number of flashes
for each capacitor found in step 3.
5. For the purpose of accurate measurement, the highlighted sections of the circuit in diagram 2
were virtually recreated using Crocodile Physics as shown in diagram 3, with the initial
capacitance of the capacitor at 47µF, the resistor set at 10kΩ and the battery supplying 9V.
(The LED was just an indicator that the capacitor was actually discharging. It is not
representative of either of the LEDs in the quantum theory detector circuit).

47µF

Diagram 2 – Capacitor and resistor Diagram 3 – Simple circuit in Crocodile

Physics (capacitor charging)

6. The capacitor was linked with the graphing function in Crocodile Physics to graph voltage
against time.
7. The circuit was switched on to charge the capacitor and then short-circuited to discharge the
capacitor while the graph recorded the change in voltage to obtain a graph as shown in
diagram 3.5.
8. Steps 4-7 were repeated with the pairs of 100µF, 220µF, 330µF and 470µF capacitors in the
Crocodile Physics program.

Diagram 3.5 – Graph of capacitor charging

and discharging using Crocodile Physics
(the charge time is from 0-2 seconds and
the discharge time is from 3.2-3.6 seconds).

Results:
Table 4 – Capacitance’s affect on LED oscillation and the charge and discharge time of capacitors
Capacitance LED flashes per Time of LED Charge time Discharge time
(µF) minute oscillation (seconds) (seconds) (seconds)
47 140 0.43 2 0.4
100 66 0.91 4.1 0.5
220 30 2 10 0.9
330 21 2.86 14 1.1
470 16 3.75 24 2.2

© Sarah Don, Australia, 2008

Analysis and Discussion:

Graph 5 - Charge Time of Capacitors

26
24
22
20
18
Time (seconds)

16
14
12
10 Charge
8 Discharge
6
4
2
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Capacitance

With each value of capacitance tested in the simple circuit on Crocodile Physics, the charge
and discharge time increased as capacitance increased, as shown in graph 5. Because of the different
values of resistance depending on whether the capacitor was charging or discharging, it took a much
shorter time for the capacitors to discharge than it did for them to charge. As shown in diagram 3,
while charging, there was 10kΩ
Graph 6 - Flashes per minute resistance in the circuit however while
150 discharging, the resistance was much
No. Flashes per Minute

less at only 100Ω. Less resistance

100 resulted in a higher current and therefore
a faster discharge.
50
As the capacitance increased,
the number of LED oscillations per
0
minute decreased as shown in graph 6.
0 100 200 300 400 500
The shape of graph 6 is representative of
Capacitance an inverse proportionality. The data
from graph 6, when plotted with the
number of flashes per minute inversed,
Graph 7 - Frequency of Flashes forms a straight line graph as shown in
0.08 graph 7. The frequency of flashes is
1/No. Flashes per Minute

therefore inversely proportional to the

0.06
capacitance of the capacitor in the
0.04 timing circuit.
0.02
1
0 ∝ 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑠
0 100 200 300 400 500
Capacitance

© Sarah Don, Australia, 2008

 Graph 8 - How charge and discharge time affect the period of
LED oscillation
26
24
22
20
18
Time (seconds)

16
14
Charge
12
Discharge
10
Time between flashes
8
6
4
2
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Capacitance

The charge and discharge times of the capacitors affected the number of flashes per minute.
The capacitors did not have to fully charge before they were able to supply a sufficient voltage to the
base of their corresponding transistors. Also, the LEDs were not lit for the entire duration of their
oscillation period because their corresponding capacitor would have discharged before the other
capacitor had charged to the point where it could supply a potential difference (0.6V) to the base of
the other transistor large enough to switch it on.

There were few minor

limitations involved in this investigation.
Finding the definite point where a
capacitor had charged or discharged was
subjective. However, since the same
person analysed each set of data for the
charge and discharge times of the
capacitors, the readings were taken from
the same point along the curve each time.
The most significant limitation –
accurately recording charge and
discharge times of the capacitors with a
stopwatch – was overcome by using
computer software instead that could
accurately calculate and graph the
Figure 9 – Graphing in Crocodile Physics
curves for voltage against time as the
capacitor charged and discharged (as

© Sarah Don, Australia, 2008

shown in figure 9). Another limitation that was encountered was that Crocodile Physics did not allow
the quantum theory detector to run virtually, the same way that it did in reality (because of the set up
of the integrated circuit). This presented problems when trying to measure the charge and discharge
times of the capacitors. However this limitation was overcome by creating the simple circuit with the
same resistances that the electricity would have experienced had the charge and discharge time data
been taken from measurements from the whole circuit working in reality, and not just from the simple
circuit in Crocodile Physics. The graph in figure 9 shows how different the charge time was compared
to the discharge time for that particular capacitor because of the difference in resistance in the circuit
depending on which way the current was flowing.

Conclusion:
The hypothesis – that as the capacitance of the capacitors increases, the LEDs oscillate slower
– was accepted. A mathematical relationship between capacitance and the LED oscillation frequency
was conclusive from the results. LED oscillation frequency graphed against capacitance produced a
straight line graph when expressed as an inversely proportional relationship. The frequency of the
flashing LEDs does not affect the use of the circuit in a practical context. However in a theoretical
context, the faster the LEDs oscillate, the closer they represent the behaviour of light particles/waves
and the closer the circuit becomes to creating a quantum instance.

Bibliography:
Capgo (2007) Resistors,
http://www.capgo.com/Resources/Measurement/MeasHome/Resistors/Resistors.html (11/05/08)
Crocodile Clips (2006) Crocodile Physics, Computer Software, United States of America, Crocodile
Clips Ltd.
Dick Smith Electronics (1979) Funway vol.1, McPherson’s Printing Group, Australia.
Hewes, J. (2008) Circuit Symbols, http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/symbol.htm (10/05/08)

© Sarah Don, Australia, 2008