What is Photoresistor: Definition and 14 Discussions
A photoresistor (also known as a light-dependent resistor, LDR, or photo-conductive cell) is a passive component that decreases resistance with respect to receiving luminosity (light) on the component's sensitive surface. The resistance of a photoresistor decreases with increase in incident light intensity; in other words, it exhibits photoconductivity. A photoresistor can be applied in light-sensitive detector circuits and light-activated and dark-activated switching circuits acting as a resistance semiconductor. In the dark, a photoresistor can have a resistance as high as several megaohms (MΩ), while in the light, a photoresistor can have a resistance as low as a few hundred ohms. If incident light on a photoresistor exceeds a certain frequency, photons absorbed by the semiconductor give bound electrons enough energy to jump into the conduction band. The resulting free electrons (and their hole partners) conduct electricity, thereby lowering resistance. The resistance range and sensitivity of a photoresistor can substantially differ among dissimilar devices. Moreover, unique photoresistors may react substantially differently to photons within certain wavelength bands.
A photoelectric device can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. An intrinsic semiconductor has its own charge carriers and is not an efficient semiconductor, for example, silicon. In intrinsic devices, the only available electrons are in the valence band, and hence the photon must have enough energy to excite the electron across the entire bandgap. Extrinsic devices have impurities, also called dopants, added whose ground state energy is closer to the conduction band; since the electrons do not have as far to jump, lower energy photons (that is, longer wavelengths and lower frequencies) are sufficient to trigger the device. If a sample of silicon has some of its atoms replaced by phosphorus atoms (impurities), there will be extra electrons available for conduction. This is an example of an extrinsic semiconductor.
Hello everyone !
At High School I have to make a little robot which is steerable with light. It has 2 photoresistors, if a photoresistor received light it switches on a motor. That allows us to go leftward or rightward. But, I have a problem. I don't manage to link every components between us...
Hey guys,
I am trying to come up with an idea to measure incident intensity of headlights from an oncoming car for one of my uni projects. This wasn't specifically assigned project topic, we get to choose what we want to do. It's my Instrument and Measurement unit, and I had this idea thought it...
Hello everyone. I feel myself a little bit confused because I can't understand the difference between the working principle of the photodiode and the photoresistor. The photoresistor changes its resistance under the influence of light while photodiode changes the current across iself. Is this...
Greetings everyone.
I'm working on a project that requires the very accurate measurement of distance varying between 0.500'' and 0.050''. I need to measure the distance within at most 0.010'' tolerance and give the value digitally. The read-rate is once every second.
I'm on a very tight budget...
I'm a high school physics student. I want to do an experiment to see what happens when a high frequency alternating current goes through a magnet. To create the high frequency alternating current could a photo resistor do that for me? Does the photo-resistor create an alternating current with a...
So, I recently joined a stargazing club, and for our summer activity, we're supposed to use a telescope, a photoresistor, and a multimeter to measure the luminosity of the moon. I know that luminosity can be calculated with the equation, L = σ AT 4, and that brightness can be measured with the...
Homework Statement
The following figure shows a potential divider circuit made up of a LDR and a variable resistor R. It is used to activate a buzzer circuit which sounds only at 2.6V and above. The resistance of the variable resistor varies from 100ohm to 10kohm while the resistance of the LDR...
Hi,
I am working on a project where I want to use a photoresistor to measure displacement, by reflecting light off of a small component and measuring the light that is reflected. the goal is to measure vibration.
I am having a hard time finding information on the cutoff frequencies of...
Hello Wizards,
I am using a circuit with a photoresistor that sits under the eave and senses ambient light to turn on a light at night to shine on an American Flag. This works fine for a month or two and then quits working. What I find is the photoresistor goes bad. Ambient light in the...
We're trying to build a circuit that will detect when a laser crosses a photoresistor and light an LED. What we're trying to do is have three different photoresistors, and three diffferent LED's, each of which correspond to one photoresistor. The idea is that when one photoresistor is struck...
to increase maximum detectable wavelength of a photoresistor which is equal to
planck's constant/ semiconductor energy gap , we need to decrease the energy gap only
planck's constant cannot be increased or decreased, right?
I'm a total newbie at this, but I have a photoresistor set up so that it controls the shorting on an audio circuit. When light is on, it shorts and cuts the sound. When it is dark, it closes and allows the circuit to run normally. How can I reverse this so that light will make the sensor...
I need a circuit diagram for running a motor using a battery pack (3 volts) that uses a photo-resistor for a switch. Really sorry for bothering you with such simple question but i am new to this thing.
Thank-you. The attached was my previous circuit it did not work.
Homework Statement
We are using Raman spectroscopy to detect the presence of chemicals from emitted light.
We have a light transistor that behaves as a photo-resistor of 50k-ohm resistance. The light signal generates 2 microvolts of 2 kHz signal at normal Raman levels. We want at least...