Determining of Planck'S Constant Using Leds: The Physics Teacher January 2008
Determining of Planck'S Constant Using Leds: The Physics Teacher January 2008
Determining of Planck'S Constant Using Leds: The Physics Teacher January 2008
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V
isible light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been capacitor (C) through an LED in series with a current
widely used as power indicators. However, limiting resistor (R). Measuring the voltage across the
after the power is switched off, it takes a capacitor during the discharge reveals an exponential
while for the LED to go off. Many students were fas- decay that approaches a non-zero constant. That con-
cinated by this simple demonstration. In this paper, stant voltage (V0) is the minimum voltage required for
by making use of computer-based data acquisition current to flow through the LED. A photon generated
and modeling, we show the voltage across the LED by the LED possesses energy E = hf = eV0, where
undergoing an exponential decay after the power f (= c/λ) is the frequency of the electromagnetic wave,
is switched off. We also describe a new approach e = 1.6022 10-19 C is the charge on an electron, and
for determining Planck’s constant using LEDs. The V0 is the turn-on voltage of the LED. In terms of the
simple experiment can be used either in an interactive wavelength λ and the speed of light c (= 2.9979
lecture demonstration or an entry-level physics lab. 108 m/s), we have:
Planck’s constant, h = 6.62607554 10-34 J-s, is
λ
one of the fundamental constants of nature relating to h = eV0 .
the quantum concept in modern physics. It has been c
previously suggested that Planck’s constant be deter- As shown in Fig. 1, the experimental setup consists
mined using LEDs,1-5 where the key parameter to be of a circuit with a 6-V dc source, a current limiting
determined was the voltage required to switch on an resistor (R = 100 ), a capacitor (C = 0.25 F), and
LED of known optical frequency. Of the two main several LEDs that emit a variety of wavelengths. A
methods reported, one uses a voltmeter to measure the 6-V dc power supply is used because the voltage
minimum voltage needed to activate the LED, and the probe measures a maximum voltage of 6 V. With a
other determines “turn-on” voltage from the current- 100- resistor, the circuit current is limited to
versus-voltage (I-V) curve of the LED. However, the
value obtained for Planck’s constant was influenced by
human judgment in deciding when the LED started
to emit for the first technique, and what feature of
the I-V curve constituted the LED “turn-on” point
for the second technique. In this paper we propose a
computer-based approach that utilizes curve fitting to
determine the voltage required to switch on an LED.
The experiment is reliable, repeatable, and accurate.
This approach monitors only the discharge of a Fig. 1. Experimental setup.
T h e f r e e d o m t o i n q u i r e . T h e t e c h n o l o g y t o e x c e l .
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