Physics Investigatory Project

Certificate
This is to certify that D. Harish , a student of class XII-A
has successfully completed the research on the below
mentioned project under the guidance of Physics Teacher.

Teacher’s Signature

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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 in PHYSICS,

which also helped me in doing a lot of Research. I came

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to know about many new 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 in making this project,

despite their busy schedule. They gave me different ideas

in making this project unique.

Index
1 Certificate of Excellence

2 Acknowledgement

3 Aim of project

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4 Introduction

5 Theory

6 Apparatus required

7 Procedure followed

8 Observation

9 Conclusions

10 Precautions

11 Bibliography

Aim of Project
The aim of the project is to demonstrate the underlying

principles of electrical conduction under the influence of

light. Various applications are possible by employing this

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simple principle such as (A) Automatic switching of street

lamps, (b) Intruder’s alarm, (c) Morning wake up alarm,

(d) Fire alarm, (e) Light intensity meters, (f) Automatic

elevator doors etc. to name a few.

In this project, I have demonstrated the intruder’s alarm

in a simple manner which is easy to understand. The heart

of the project is an LDR or Light Dependent Resistor. This

project could have been done using a photo-voltaic cell in

place of LDR but the circuit would have become

complicated in the case of photocell.

Introduction
A photoresistor or light-dependent resistor(LDR) is a

light-controlled variable resistor. The resistance of a

photoresistor decreases with increasing incident light

intensity; in other words, it exhibits Photoconductivity. A

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photoresistor can be applied in light-sensitive detector

circuits, and light and dark activated switching circuits.

These resistors use pure semiconductors like silicon or

germanium. When the light falls on the LDR, then the

electrons get excited by the incident photons and move

from the valence band to the conduction band and

therefore the number of charge carriers increases. In other

words, the conductivity goes up.

Distinction needs to be made here between photocells and

LDRs. In a photocell, when it is excited by light (photons),

electricity is generated. Unlike photocells, LDRs, do not

generate electricity but only change their conductivity.

Theory
Alight dependent resistor works on the principle of photo

conductivity. Photo conductivity is an electro-optical

phenomenon in which the material’s conductivity is

increased when light is absorbed by the material. Modern

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light dependent resistors are made of materials such as

lead sulphide, lead selenide, indium antimonide and most

commonly cadmium sulphide (CdS) and cadmium

selenide.

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When light falls i.e. when the photons fall on the material,

the electrons in the valence band of the semiconductor

material are excited to the conduction band. These

photons in the incident light should have energy greater

than the band gap of the semiconductor material to make

the electrons jump from the valence band to the

conduction band. Hence when light having enough energy

strikes on the device, more and more electrons are excited

to the conduction band which results in large number of

charge carriers. The result of this process is more and

more current starts flowing

through the device when the

circuit is closed and hence it

is said that the resistance of

the device has been

decreased. This is the most

common working principle

of LDR.

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This can be clearly seen from the graph. The resistance of

the LDR falls rapidly with the increasing intensity of the

incident light.

The converse is also true when light intensity is reduced

or cut off.

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APPARATUS REQUIRED
The project consists of the following apparatus:

1. Light source (white, ultra-violet and laser)

2. LDR

3. Switching circuit

4. Relay

5. Buzzer

6. Batteries

7. Housing for the above

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Procedure followed
An empty cardboard box was used to mimic a house. An

opening was cut on the box to present a door. Behind the

door, a light source is placed and in the line of vision of

the light source, an LDR is also placed.

A circuit is connected to the LDR which switches on a

relay when the light beam is intercepted. A schematic

diagram of the set-up is shown below:

BUZZER
INTERRUPTION

RELAY Light

LIGHT BEAM

TRANSISTOR LIGHT SOURCE

CIRCUIT

HOUSE
DOOR

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As seen in the above diagram, a light source is positioned

behind the door on the right hand side and an LDR is

placed in the same line of vision at the opposite end of the

door. When the light beam falls on the LDR, it lowers the

resistance of the same and this activates the switching

transistor circuit. The transistor circuit (described later) is

connected to a relay which is in turn connected to an

external buzzer.

The relay is a special type of switch which is driven by its

magnetic coil. The relay has two positions. In de-energized

condition, position-1 will be active and in energized

condition, position-2 will be active.

When the circuit is powered, the relay goes to position-1

to which the buzzer is connected. Thus, the buzzer will

start ringing. But when the light source is switched on,

the resistance of LDR falls and this drives the transistor

switching circuit and the relay gets energized. This puts

the relay switch in position-2, which cuts off the buzzer.

In this condition, whenever the light beam is intercepted

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by an opaque object, the LDR stops receiving the incident

light and its resistance becomes high. This de-energizes the

relay and puts it to position-1 and the buzzer starts

ringing.

Thus, to summarize, we can say that the as long as the

light source is on and the LDR is illuminated, the buzzer

will not ring. But the moment, the light source is

interrupted, the buzzer will start ringing.

We can Imagine the interruption of the light beam to be

caused by an intruder and hence this arrangement can

automatically detect any intruder by turning on the

buzzer.

The buzzer is just one of the devices we have connected to

the relay. As such we can connect many devices to the

relay such as sirens, flashing lights or even an automatic

dialer to the nearest police station. This intruder alarm

can be easily set up in houses, banks, schools etc.

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The same circuit can be rewired to reverse the effect of

light. Viz. we can make the buzzer ring whenever, light is

present and interestingly this set up can be used as a

morning alarm.

Circuit Diagram

Now, let us understand how the switching takes place

when the LDR is illuminated by light. For the automatic

switching, we have used the following circuit consisting of

Transistors. One of the most common uses for transistors

in an electronic circuit is as simple switches. In short, a

transistor conducts

current across the

collector-emitter

path only when

sufficient voltage is

applied to its base.

When no sufficient base voltage is present, the switch is

off. When sufficient base voltage is present, the switch is

on.

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The circuit uses two transistors, connected in series. The

base voltage of the first transistor is adjusted carefully

through the variable resistor (potentiometer) so that the

slightest increase in the base voltage can fire the transistor

T1. Thus, when there is no light on the LDR, the transistor

remains un-fired. But when light falls on the LDR, the

LDR starts conducting and the net base voltage of

transistor T1 crosses the threshold voltage, causing T1 to

fire. As a consequence, the collector current of T1 drives

transistor T2 and T2 begins to fire. The collector current

of T2 is now large enough to energize the relay. The relay

gets energized and changes the contact position from 1 to

2. When light is cut off, the base voltage of T1 falls back

to less than the threshold voltage of its base –emitter

junction and therefore, the relay gets de-energized.

As stated earlier, the relay is connected to a buzzer

through a battery. So, whenever, light is interrupted, the

relay goes to position-1 where, the buzzer is connected

and the buzzer starts ringing.

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The ringing buzzer wards off the intruder and also alerts

the neighbors about the intrusion. In addition to the

buzzer, one can also connect a high intensity flash light to

warn the people in the neighborhood about the intrusion.

Needless to say, one has also to install a stealth switch that

is known only to the owner so that the owner can disable

it for his own entry.

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 Observation
In the set up described, the following observations were

made by (a) varying the nature of light source, (b) varying

the translucency of the interceptor object.

Table of observations

S. No Type of Light Material of Result

Source Interceptor
1 White light Opaque Buzzer Rings
Transparent Buzzer does
not ring.
2 Near ultra- Opaque Buzzer Rings
violet Transparent Buzzer does
not ring.
3 Low intensity Opaque Buzzer Rings
red laser Transparent Buzzer does
not ring.

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Extension of scope in future

The device was also tested under invisible light using a TV

remote control as an infrared light source. The same

observations were made as above. This extends the scope

of the project to the invisible light sources such as

ultraviolet and infrared. The advantage is that; we can

dupe the intruder by using invisible light as the light rays

will not be visible even in the night.

Another interesting application that can be thought of is

an automatic ‘people counter’ that can be used to measure

the number of people traversing a certain passage or

entrance in an auditorium or theatre. It can also be used

as a ‘traffic counter’ in check posts and toll gates. For this,

we have to simply replace the

buzzer with a digital counter. A

typical digital counter is shown in

the accompanying picture.

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 Conclusion
Based on the observation above, it can be concluded that

the LDR based electronic switch can be successfully

deployed for the following applications:

1. Intruder detection / burglar’s alarm for home uses.

2. Anti-theft alarm for Banks and offices.

3. People Counter at Auditoriums

4. Vehicle counter at traffic check posts.

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 Precautions
The project uses certain devices that can be harmful to

humans and animals if proper caution and care are not

observed.

1. Laser diode: Although we have used a low intensity

laser, this can be harmful if aimed accidently at the
eyes or if the reflected beam is seen through naked
eye. It is suggested to wear protective sun-glasses
while assembling / positioning the light source.

2. Ultraviolet LED: UV LED with wavelengths between

315 and 400 nm, which emits the least energetic
and harmful type of UV light. However, prolonged
exposure should be avoided which can damage the
skin and eyes.

3. Buzzer: This device emits high frequency audio sounds

that can damage the ears when put close to the ears
or heard for prolonged period.

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4. The LDR: Should a need arise to destroy the project;
care should be taken to dispose off the LDR properly
as it contains harmful chemicals that can damage the
environment.

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 Bibliography
Help from
The Internet

s ds

Help from
Parents

1. www.google.com

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/

3. www.electrical4u.com

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