ACTIVITY

ACTIVITY 8
AIM
To identify a diode, a LED, a transistor, an IC, a resistor and a capacitor
from a mixed collection of such items.

APPARATUS AND MATERIAL REQUIRED

Multimeter, a collection of diode, LED, transistor, IC, resistor and
capacitor.

P RINCIPLE
A diode is a two terminal device. It conducts when forward biased
and does not conduct when reverse biased. It does not emit light
while conducting.
A LED (light emitting diode) is also a two terminal device. It conducts
when forward biased and does not conduct when reverse biased. It
emits light while conducting.
A transistor is a three terminal device. The terminals represent emitter
(E), base (B) and collector (C).
An IC (integrated circuit) is a multi-terminal device in the form of a
chip. But some may have only three terminals, e.g. 7805, 7806,
7809, 7912.
A resistor is a two terminal device. It conducts equally in both
directions.
A capacitor is a two terminal device. It does not conduct but stores
some charge when dc voltage is applied.

P ROCEDURE
1. Check the physical appearance of the component.
(a) If it has four or more terminals and has the appearance of a
chip (black rectangular block), then it is an IC.

167

24/04/2018
LABORATORY MANUAL

(a) (a) (b)

+Non
inverting
Inverting

(c)

(d)

(e) (f)

Fig. A 8.1 (a) Diode (b) LED (c) Transistor (d) IC (e) Resistor (f) Capacitor

(b) If it has three terminals, the component may be a transistor.

To confirm, set-up the multimeter in resistance mode
(highest range). Connect its black or common terminal to
one of the extreme legs of the component and the second
terminal (red or positive) to the central leg. Check the
multimeter deflection. If a deflection is observed, interchange
the multimeter terminals. If no deflection is observed, the
component is a transistor. Repeat this test by connecting
the multimeter terminals to the central leg and the other
extreme leg. If a similar behaviour is observed, the
component is a transistor.
(2) If the component has two terminals, it could be a resistor, a
capacitor, a diode or a LED.

168

24/04/2018
 ACTIVITY 8

(a) Look for colour bands, if it has a typical set of three colour
bands followed by a silver or gold band, the component is a
resistor.
(b) Connect the multimeter terminals (in resistance mode-
highest range) to the component terminals and watch for
multimeter deflection. Also repeat by reversing the
component terminals.
(c) If the multimeter shows an equal deflection in both the
directions, the component is a resistor.
(d) If the deflection is accompanied with emission of light, in one
direction and a much less or zero deflection in the other
direction the component is a LED.
(e) If the multimeter does not show any deflection in one direction
and shows deflection with no light emission in the other
direction then, the component is a diode.
(f) If the multimeter does not show any deflection on connecting
its terminals either way to the component, it is a capacitor.
But if capacitance of capacitor is large, multimeter may show
a momentary deflection.
(g) Record your observations in Table A 8.1 and A 8.2.

Note to teachers

(i) Avoid giving an IC with three terminals.

(ii) Preferably use analog multimeter and not the digital
multimeter.
(iii) In case of digital multimeter, the term “deflection” in the
instructions may be read as “reading”.
(iv) Label each component by a different alphabet e.g., A, B,
C, D, E...

O
BSERVATIONS
Table A 8.1 : Checking for the number of terminals

Alphabet marked Name of the Device

Sl.No. No. of terminals
on the device

1 Two
2 Three
3 More than three

169
LABORATORY MANUAL

Table A 8.2 : Checking for the state of conduction

Sl.No. State of Device Code Name of the device

conduction

1 Conducts in one direction

only without any emission
of light
2 Conducts in one direction
only with emission of light
3 Three terminal device;
conducts in one direction
only between central
terminal and either of the
remaining two terminals
4 Conducts in both
directions
5 Does not conduct, gives an
initial deflection which
decays to zero

R ESULT
A diode, a LED, a transistor, an IC, a resistor and a capacitor are
identified respectively from a mixed collection.

P RECAUTION
While obtaining resistance of any component, clean its
leads properly.

S OURCES OF ERROR
1. When the metal ends of a multimeter leads are touched, the
multimeter should show zero resistance. If it does not show
it, bring the pointer to zero using ‘Zero Adj knob’ on the
multimeter. If it is not done, the resistance measurements are
not reliable.
2. While checking resistance of a component, avoid touching either
of the metal ends of the multimeter leads. Body resistance in
parallel with component resistance can affect the resistance
measurement.

170

24/04/2018
 ACTIVITY 8

SUGGESTED ADDITIONAL EXPERIMENTS/ACTIVITIES

Studies of the basic circuit components such as resistor, capacitor

may be undertaken on the following lines:
1. Resistors
Types of resistors
(a) Wire wound resistors: These are made by winding a specified
length of wire of some conducting material. The material may be
any alloy like mangnnin, constantan, nicrome etc.*
(b) Carbon resistors: They are made of a mixture of graphite (a
form of carbon) and a good insulator like shellac in a specified
proportion. The mixture is pressed and moulded onto rods
by heating. By varying this proportion, carbon resistors are
made for a very wide range of values. The stability of such
resistors is poor but they are cheap and small.
(c) Carbon film resistors**: Carbon resistors are cheap and easily
available. A thin film of carbon is deposited onto a small ceramic
rod. The resistive coating is spiralled on it to get the desired value
of resistance.
(d) Thin film resistors: These are made by depositing a very thin film
of a conducting material on some insulating base. The thin film
provides a very small cross-sectional area. Hence a large
resistance. The films may be made from a metal or an alloy.
Tolerance of a resistor
The actual resistance value of a certain resistor may be different from
its specified value. This may be due to external influences like changes
in temperature, humidity etc. or due to the inherent limitation in
manufacturing a given precise value. Deviations in the resistance value
due to later cause is known as tolerance.
Wattage of a resistor
Every resistor has a maximum safe current that it can carry. Currents
larger than that will produce excessive heat and may damage it. This
is usually measured not in terms of the current, but in terms of
maximum watt of power that can be dissipated in the resistor without
causing any damage. It is known as its wattage. Common wattages
for carbon resistors are 1/8, 1/2, 1 and 2 watts. Higher wattages are
also available.
Colour code for resistor
Most common colour code used for resistor consists of three colour
bands at one end.

171
* Wire wound resistors have more undesirable inductance than the other types of resistors.
**See appendix 3 for details.
LABORATORY MANUAL

The colour and their numerical meanings are:

Black – 0 Orange – 3 Blue – 6 White – 9
Brown – 1 Yellow – 4 Violet – 7
Red – 2 Green – 5 Grey – 8
This colour code could be remembered
easily by the term BBROY GB VGW (B B
ROY Great Britain Very Good Wife). To
read the resistance of a colour coded
resistor, start with the strip nearest to
the end. The colour of the first strip gives
the first digit in the resistance value. The
colour of the second strip stands for the
second digit. The colour of third strip
indicates the value of multiplier or the
number of zero following second
number.

Fig. A 8.2 A carbon resistor with colour code marking Resistors with only three bands have a
tolerance of 20%. Its actual value may
vary 20% up or down from its indicated
value. If a fourth band is added separated from the first three, then
the tolerance of the resistor is known from the colour of the fourth
band. If the colour of the fourth band is silver, then tolerance is 10%.
Gold colour represents 5% tolerance red represents 2% and brown
represents 1%. The ohmic values are often printed on 2% and 1%
resistors.

2. Capacitor
Capacitor is a device that stores electrical charge. A capacitor blocks
the passage of dc while it allows ac to flow through it.
There are many types of capacitors having different types of dielectrics
in general use. These are
(i) Air capacitor (variable gang capacitors)
(ii) Mica capacitor (low capacitance)
(iii) Ceramic capacitor (very low capacitance)
(iv) Paper capacitor (low capacitance)
(v) Plastic capacitor
(vi) Electrolytic capacitor (medium capacitance)
(vii) Oil filled capacitor (high capacitance)

172

24/04/2018
 ACTIVITY 8

3. Diode
In some semiconductor junction diodes, a silver ring is shown on one
of its end. This end of the diode is n-side and the other end is p-side
[Fig. A 8.3(a)]. In some diodes, the symbol of the diode is painted on
the body of the diode. The direction of arrow is the direction of current
flow. Hence, the side from which the arrow starts is p-side and the
side towards which the arrow ends is n-side [Fig. A 8.3 (b)]. Some
diodes are bullet shaped in which case the flat side is p-side and the
cylindrical side is n-side [Fig. A 8.3 (c)]. In case of a light emitting
diode (LED), usually the shorter pin is n-side and the longer pin is p-
side [Fig. A 8.3 (d)].

Fig. A 8.3 Shapes of some diodes

4. Transistors
In this activity, a method to distinguish between n-p-n and p-n-p
type transistors has been given, provided the pin diagram of the
transistor is known. In case, if no pin diagram is known, one can still
determine the type (n-p-n or p-n-p) of the given transistor. This can
be done by measuring the resistance values between different
terminals of the given transistor [(Fig. A 8.4) (a) and (b)]. Table A 9.5
(p.181) summarises the nature of resistance values for n-p-n and p-
n-p transistors.

Fig. A 8.4 Different transistor terminals

173

24/04/2018