Physics

INVESTIGATORY PROJECT
Session : 2023-24

~ Topic:- “ Burglar Alarm ”

~ Submitted To :- Mr. Bhubaneswar Karmakar
~ Submitted By :- Arvin Thapa
~ Roll No :-
~ Class :- 12th – Science

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 Certificate
Arvin thapa
This is to certify that Rajnish Kumar of class
XII-B has successfully completed the
investigatory project on Construction of a
Burglar Alarm under the guidance of Mr.
Bhubaneswar Karmakar during the year
2023-24 in the partial fulfillment of physics
practical examination conducted by CBSE.

[Internal examiner] [External examiner]

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 Acknowledgement

In preparation of my project, I had to take the help

and guidance of some respected persons, who
deserve my deepest gratitude. The completion of
this project gave me much pleasure. I would like
to express my special thanks to my teacher Mr.
Bhubaneswar Karmakar who gave me the golden
opportunity to do this wonderful project on the
topic "Burglar Alarm", which also helped me in
doing a lot of Research. I came to know about so
many new things from this assignment. Many
people, especially my classmates have made
valuable comment suggestions on my project
which gave me inspiration to improve the quality
of the project.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to all

those who have directly and indirectly guided me
in writing this project.

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 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.

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 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.

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 Theory
A light dependent resistor works on the principle of
photoconductivity. Photo conductivity is an electro-optical
phenomenon in which the material’s conductivity is increased
when light is absorbed by the material. Modern light dependent
resistors are made of materials such as lead sulfide, lead
selenide, indium antimonide and most commonly cadmium sulfide
(CdS) and cadmium selenide.

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

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enough energy strikes on the device, more and more electrons
are excited to the conduction band which results in a large
number of charge carriers. The result of this process is that 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 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.

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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:

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.

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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 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 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.
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 setup can be used as a morning alarm.

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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.
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 transistors 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.

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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.
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 flashlight 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 ultraviolet Opaque Buzzer Rings
Transparent Buzzer does
not ring.
3 Low intensity Opaque Buzzer Rings
red laser Transparent Buzzer does
not ring.

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

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auditorium or theater. 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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 Precautions
The project uses certain devices that can be harmful to
humans and animals if proper caution and care are not
observed.
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 the naked eye. It is
suggested to wear protective sun-glasses while
assembling / positioning the light source.
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.
Buzzer: This device emits high frequency audio sounds
that can damage the ears when put close to the ears or
heard for a prolonged period.
The LDR: Should a need arise to destroy the project; care
should be taken to dispose of the LDR properly as it
contains harmful chemicals that can damage the
environment.

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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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Bibliography

1.www.google.com

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

3.www.electrical4u.com

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