Light Dependent resistor (ldr)

A PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

NAME: Dwij Raj Singh Malveeya

Class: xii 'A'
Roll no. : 6

• Submitted to:
 acknowledgment
• I would like to express my special thanks to my Physics teacher as well as our Principal Mam 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 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
• Certificate of Excellence
• Acknowledgement
• Aim of project
• Introduction
• Theory
• Apparatus required.
• Procedure followed
• Observation
• Conclusions
• Precautions
certificate
This is to certify that Dwij Raj Singh Malveeya of class 12A has completed the
physics project titled "Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)" in partial fulfilment of
curriculum of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). This project was
carried out in the school laboratary of APS Jodhpur, during the academic year
2023-2024

Sign:
Subject Teacher: External Examinar:
Date:
 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 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 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 iincreased when light isabsorbed by the material. Modern light
dependent resistors are made ofmaterials such as lead sulphide, lead selenide,
indium antimonide and most commonly cadmium sulphide (Cds) and cadmium
selenide.cadmium sulphide track circuit symbolWhen 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
theory
• 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 Light Intensity 1000 Illumination (Flux) 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. 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
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
 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: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
 Procedure followed
• 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 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.
 Procedure followed
• 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.
 Procedure followed
• 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 +9V
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
 Procedure followed
• 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,
 Procedure followed
• de-energized. As stated earlier, the relay is connected to a buzzer through a
battery. So, whenever, light is interrupted, relay goes to position-1 where, the
buzzer is connected and the buzzer starts ringing.
• 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.
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
 • 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;

Extension of 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

scope in future 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 tollgates. For this, we have to simply replace buzzer with a
digital counter. A typical digital counter is shown in the
accompanying picture.
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
precaution
• 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.
• 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.
 bibliography
• 1. www.google.com
• 2. https://en.wikipedia.org
• 3. www.electrical4u.com