PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY

LIGHT DEPENDENT
RESISITOR
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CERTIFICATE

THIS PROJECT ENTIITLED “LIGHT

DEPENDENT RESISITOR” , is the ivestigatory
project assinged in physics , and it has been
sucessfully completed by miss KRITHIKA.R ,the
student of class XII – ‘A’ , at MAHALASHMI
VIDYA MANDHIR AVADI , under the
supervision of MRS.BEULAH EBENEZER,for
the partial fullfillment of requirements for central
board of secondary education leading to the award
of annual exmination of the year 2022-2023.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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I am very glad to have the opportunity to make

this project & express my profound gratitude and
deep regards to my guide Mrs. Beulah Ebenezer
for her exemplary guidance, monitoring and
constant encouragement throughout this project. I
would like to thank the people who helped me
directly or indirectly to complete the project. I
would also like to extend my gratitude Principal
Mrs. Beulah Ebenezer , for their valuable
encouragement and approval of the project work.
Lastly, I thank The Almighty, my parents and
friends for their constant encouragement.

INTRODUCTION

The general purpose photoconductive cell is

also known as LDR – light dependent resistor.
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It is a type of semiconductor and its

conductivity changes with proportional
change in the intensity of light. There are two
common types of materials used to
manufacture the photoconductive cells. They
are Cadmium Sulphide (CdS) and Cadmium
Selenide (CdSe). Extrinsic devices have
impurities added, which have a ground state
energy closer to the conduction band - since
the electrons don't have as far to jump, lower
energy photons (i.e. longer wavelengths and
lower frequencies) are sufficient to trigger the
device. Two of its earliest applications were as
part of smoke and fire detection systems and
camera light meters. The structure is covered
with glass sheet to protect it from moisture
and dust and allows only light to fall on it

TYPES OF (LDR)LIGHT DEPENDENT RESISTORS

• The various types of LDRs can be classified

based on linearity or photosensitive materials.
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Materials often used in their design include

cadmium sulfide, thallium sulfide, cadmium
selenide & lead sulfide. LDRs generated with
cadmium sulfide chemicals are very responsive to
all kinds of light radiation that is noticeable within
the spectrum of human beings. LDRs made of lead
sulfate chemicals are particularly responsive to IR
radiation. However, the most frequent
classification of LDR is linear and nonlinear.
• Linear LDR: These types of LDRs are called
photodiodes but it is used as photoresistors in some
applications due to the linear performance during
operation.
Nonlinear LDR: the nonlinear LDRs are mostly
used but their behavior does not depend on the
polarity through which it unites.
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LDR / PHOTORESISTOR
SYMBOL

The LDR symbol used in electronic circuits is

based around the resistor circuit symbol, but
shows the light, in the form of arrows shining
on it. In this way it follows the same
convention used for photodiode and
phototransistor circuit symbols where arrows
are used to show the light falling on these
components.
The light dependent resistor / photoresistor circuit
symbols are shown for both the newer style
resistor symbol, i.e. a rectangular box and the
older zig-zag line resistor circuit symbols.
Often the light dependent resistor symbol may
be shown without the circle around it. This is
often done on the electronic circuit schematic
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to save space and reduce the number of lines

and circles ont he diagram to redice
complication.

Working Principle of  LDR

This resistor works on the principle of photo

conductivity. It is nothing but, when the light falls
on its surface, then the material conductivity
reduces and also the electrons in the valence band
of the device are excited to the conduction band.
These photons in the incident light must have
energy greater than the band gap of the
semiconductor material.This makes the electrons
to jump from the valence band to conduction.
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These devices depend on the light, when light falls

on the LDR then the resistance decreases, and
increases in the dark.When a LDR is kept in the
dark place, its resistance is high and, when the
LDR is kept in the light its resistance will decrease.

Variation of LDR Resistance with Variation

in Light Intensity
If a constant “V’ is applied to the LDR, the
intensity of the light increased and current
increases. The figure below shows the curve
between resistance Vs illumination curve for a
particular light dependent resistor.
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Light Intensity vs LDR Resistance

Types of light Dependent Resistors
Light dependent resistors are classified based on
the materials used.
Intrinsic Photo Resistors
These resistors are pure semiconductor devices
like silicon or germanium. When the light falls on
the LDR, then the electrons get excited from the
valence band to the conduction band and number
of charge carriers increases.

Extensive photo resistors

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These devices are doped with impurities and these

impurities creates a new energy bands above the
valence band. These bands are filled with
electrons. Hence this decrease the band gap and
small amount of energy is required in moving
them. These resistors are mainly used for long
wavelengths.
Circuit Diagram of a Light Dependent Resistor
The circuit diagram of a LDR is shown below.
When the light intensity is low, then the resistance
of the LDR is high. This stops the current flow to
the base terminal of the transistor. So, the LED
does not light. However, when the light intensity
onto the LDR is high, then the resistance of the
LDR is low.So current flows onto the base of the
first transistor and then the second
transistor.Consequently the LED lights.Here, a
preset resistor is used to turn up or down to
increase or decrease the resistance.
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Light Dependent Resistor Circuit

Light Dependent Resistor Applications
Light dependent resistors have a low cost and
simple structure. These resistors are frequently
used as light sensors. These resistors are mainly
used when there is a need to sense the absence and
presence of the light such as burglar alarm circuits,
alarm clock, light intensity meters, etc. LDR
resistors mainly involves in various electrical and
electronic projects. For better understanding of this
concept, here we are explaining some real time 
projects where the LDR resistors are used.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF
PHOTOCONDUCTIVE CELLS
Now when the device is kept in darkness, its
resistance is called as dark resistance. This
resistance is typically of the order of 1013 ohms.
When light falls on it, its resistance decreases up to
several kilo ohms or even hundreds of ohms,
depending on the intensity of light, falling on it.
The spectral response characteristics of two
commercial cells were compared in our laboratory.
And we found that there is almost no response to
the radiation of a wavelength which was shorter
than 300nm. It was very interesting to note that the
Cadmium Sulphide cell has a peak response nearer
or within the green color of the spectrum within a
range of 520nm. Thus it can be used nearer to the
infra-red region up to 750nm. It was found that the
maximum response of Cadmium Sulphoselenide is
in the yellow-orange range at 615nm and also it
can be used in the infra-red region up to about
970nm
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Spectral Response
Like the human eye, the relative sensitivity of
a photoconductive cell is dependent on the
wavelength (color) of the incident light. Each
photoconductor material type has its own
unique spectral response curve or plot of the
relative response of the photocell versus
wavelength of light.
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AIM
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
In this project, I have demonstrated the
‘Automatic light switching circuit’ 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
would have become complicated in the case of
photocell.
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THEORY: A light dependent resistor works on the

principle of photo conductivity. Photo conductivity is
an electrooptical 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 sulphide, lead selenide, indium
antimonide and most commonly cadmium sulphide
(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 enough energy strikes
on the device, more and more electrons are excited to
the conduction band which results in large number of
charge carriers.
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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 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 (light dependent Resistor)
3. Resistors
4. Transistor
5. PCB Board
6. Battery And Connector
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PROCEDURE
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
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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 LED. 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 LED
is connected. Thus, the LED will start glowing. 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 LED. 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 LED starts
glowing. Thus, to summarize, we can say that the as
long as the light source is on and the LDR is
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illuminated, the LED will not light up. But the moment,
the light source is interrupted, the LED will start
glowing. 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 LED. The LED 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, buzzer 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 LED glow whenever, light is present
and interestingly this set up can be used in other places
as required.

S.No Types of light Material of Result

source Interceptor

White light Opaque LED Glows

1.
Transparent LED does not
Glow
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Near ultra- violet Opaque LED Glows

2.
Transparent LED does not
Glow
Low intensity red Opaque LED Glows
3. laser
Transparent LED does not
Glow

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
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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 of the LDR properly as it
contains harmful chemicals that can damage the
environment.
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ADVATAGES OF LDR:
LDRs are used in Light Sensors
1.LDR is also used in some cameras to detect the
presence of the light.
2.LDRs are used Ligh Intensity measurement
meters.
3.LDRs are used in Street Lights which are
automatically turn ON in the night time.
4.LDRs are used in Burglar Alarm Circuits.
5.LDRs are used in Photosensitive Relays
6.LDR can be used in simple Fire alarm circuits.
7.The Light Dependent Resistors are used in
modern televisions, computer screens for
automatic brightness and contrast control.
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Advantages of LDR

1. LDRs are very low-cost devices.

2. LDRs are very smaller in sizes.
3. LDR is a very simple device.
4. The connection of LDR is also very simple.

Disadvantage of LDR

1. LDR gives inaccurate result if working

temperature changes.
2. LDR is not so much sensitive device
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Conclusion
• The LDR resistance decreases with increase in
intensity of light and hence there is an increase in
the flow of current.
• There is an increase in the current as the distance
from the source decreases.
• The intensity decreases as the distance from the
source increases
• The error lies within the experimental limit.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. www.wikipedia.com

2. www.electrical4u.com

3. PHYSICS LAB MANUAL

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