ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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 wondertul project in
PHYSICS, which also helped me in doing a lot of
Research. Icame to know about many new things.
This project couldn't have been satisfactorily completed
without the support and guidanee of MY parents.
Iwould 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.
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that of class

12th has completed the physics project titled

"Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)" in partial
fulfillment of curriculum of CENTRAL BOARD OF
SECONDARY EDUCATION (CBSE) This project
was carried out in the school laboratory of kENDRIYA
VIDHYALAA MusssoRIE during the academic year 202+-25

Sign.:
lntermal examiner External examiner

Date:
 INDEX
1 Certificate of Excellence

2 Acknowledgement
3 Aim of project
Introduction

5 Theory
6 Apparatus required
7 Procedure followed

8 Observation

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
simple principle such as (A) Automatic switching of
street lamps, (6) Intruder's alarm, (c) Moning wake up
alarm, (d) Fire alarm, (o) Light intensity meters, ()
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
Aphotoresistor or light-dependent resistortLDR) 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
Cadmium suçhde
tracd
material's conductivity is
increased when light

absorbed by the material.

Modern light dependent circut eymbdl

resistors are made of

materials such as lead sulphide, lead selenide, indium

antimonide and most commonly cadmium sulphide
(Cds) and cadmium selenide.

When light falls ie. 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 a Average ioht
Time Da Sunlight
the device, more and more
electrons are excited to the
conduction band which

results in large number of

Light intensity 1000
charge carriers. The result llumination (FluR)

of this process is more and more current starts flowing

through the device when the circuit is closed and hence
it 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

S.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 conected to the LDR which switches on a

relay when the light beam is intercepted. A schematic

diagram of the set-up is shown below:

BUZER
INTERRUPTION

RELAY

IGHT BEAM

TRANSISTOR LIGHT SOURCE

CIRCUIT

HOUSE
DOOR
As seen in the above diagram, a light source is positionea
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 tum
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 buzer 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 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 lmagine the interuption 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 sane circuit can be rewired to reverse the effect
light. Viz we can make the buzzer ring whenever, light is
present and interestingly this set up can be used as a
morming 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
TLED
collector-emitter
path only when

sufficient voltage is
470LSensitnity
Adjustmct
applied to its base.
When no sufficient base voltage is present, the switch is
off. When suficient 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 Ti. 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
voltaqe 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 connectea
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 wam 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 obsevations
S. No Type of Light Material of Result
Source Interceptor
White light Opaque Buzzer Rings
Transparent Buzzer does
not ring.
2 Near ultra-Opaque Buzzer Rings
violet Transparent Buzzer does
not ring.
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 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.
 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. lIntruder detection / burglar's alarwm for home uses.

2.Anti-theft alam for Banks and offices.

3. People Counter at Auditoriums

4.Vehicle counter at traffic check posts.

PRECAUTIONS
The project uses certain devices that can be harmful to
humans and animals if proper caution and care are not
observed.

L.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 nakea
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
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1. www.google.com

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