LEDs different colours and their forward(working) voltage

[indie452]

Homework Statement

hi I've just been doing labs today on data aquisition looking at current voltage characteristics, one thing that i did was look at the forward(working) voltage for a red, green and white LED.

Red = 1.5V Green = 1.8V White = 2.6V

when i asked the demonstarter why this was he said that we arent asked to know this to write in our lab books and so it didnt matter, but i do want to know why.

ive looked on the web and i think it has something to do with the wavelength produced and that each one might need slightly more energy to get the lower wavelength [cause E=hc/$$\lambda$$] and white light needs a lot more at it isn't monochromatic.

is any of this thinking right?

 

[mgb_phys]

Roughly correct.
The energy of the photon emitted depends on the bandgap of the material as does the forward voltage.
Red, green and blue LEDs use different semiconductor material (or simialir material with different doping) with different bandgaps.
To slightly confuse things white LEDs are generally blue LEDs with a phosphor that is excited by high energy blue light and emits roughly white light