Physics lab 6

The speed of light

Submitted by :
Safi ahmed
Submitted to:
Dr.Naeem Anjum

The department of physics

The islamia university of Bahawalpur
Contents:
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Theory
Important terms
 Light
 Various theories of light
 Lens and its types
 Refraction
 Refractive index
 Effect of medium
 Led (transmitter)
 Photo diode
 Observations and calculations
 Conclusion
 References
Abstract:
The main purpose of this experiment is to determine
the velocity of light by an electronic method.
We want to calculate the speed of light in air, water
and glass medium by using formula c=s/t
The general value of speed of light is 3*10^8 m/s
but the exact value of speed of light in air medium is
2.99 *10^8 m/s .
The value of speed of light in glass medium is
2*10^8 m/s and the value of speed of light in water
medium is 2.5*10^8 m/s .

Introduction:
The methods that Galileo employed to measure the
speed of light were too curd to be successful.
In 1658 Romel realised that an anomaly in time of
solar eclipse of the moons of Jupiter could be
accounted far by a finite speed of light and deduced
that it must be 3*10^8 m/s .
In 1726 Bradely made some deductions form
observations of small ellipses that the stars
described in heavens. Since these ellipses have a
period of one year they must me associated with the
measurements of earth.
Knowledge of exact value was an important
confirmation of Maxwell theory of electromagnetic
waves which allowed the wave velocity to be
calculated from the results of laboratory. In the
hands of Michelson their methods achieved a high
degree of accuracy of about 0.03 % and
subsequently much more accurate observations and
determinations have been made.

What is light!
Light is a transverse electromagnetic wave that can
be seen by human eye. It is a type of energy.Light
exists in tiny particles called photons.
It shows properties of both wave and particles.
Various theories related to the nature of light
Different theories on the nature of light have
been proposed.Important theories are as follows:

Corpuscular Theory
According to the Newton’s corpuscular theory:
Light is made up of tiny particles called ‘corpuscles’
having negligible mass.
These particles (corpuscles) are perfectly elastic.
The corpuscles are emitted from the luminous
sources such as Sun, candle, electric lamp etc.
The tiny particles (corpuscles) always travel in a
straight line in all directions.
Each particle (corpuscle) carries kinetic energy with
it while moving.
The corpuscles travel at high velocity.
The corpuscles (light) would travel faster in the
denser medium than in rarer medium. But later this
is proved wrong. We know that light travels faster in
the rarer medium than in denser medium.
When the particles (corpuscles) fall on the retina of
the eye, they produce an image of the object or
sensation of vision.
The corpuscles can be of different sizes. The
different colours of light are due to the different
sizes of the corpuscles.
The corpuscular theory could be easily understood
with a simple example.

Take a rubber ball.

Stand before a wall.
Throw the ball in such a way that it hits the wall
normally.
You will observe that the ball bounces and returns
along the same path.
Now, throw the ball in such a way that it makes a
certain angle with the surface of the wall.
You will observe that the ball bounces and goes
away from the surface of the wall making an equal
angle with respect to the normal drawn at the point
of incidence.
These observations show that the rubber ball obeys
the laws of reflection. Just like the rubber ball, when
corpuscles hit the surface they are reflected back in
the same path or reflect at an equal angle with
respect to the normal drawn at the point of
incidence.
Corpuscular theory cannot explain the phenomena
of diffraction, interference, and polarisation of light.

Scientist Christian Huygens in 1678 found that light

is a form of wave .

Huygen’s wave theory

1:- he found that light propagates in the form of
waves and need a medium to propagate in all
possible direction.
2:-he gave a hypothetical medium which is known as
ether .

3:- he told that the secondary source which is

obtained from the wavefront of first source give rise
to new wavelets and the tangent drawn to combine
all individual wavefronts formed by wavelets of
secondary source forms secondary wavefront.

Plank’s Quantum Theory:

Quantum theory was given by Max Planck in 1900.
Absorption and emission of radiant energy does not
takes place continuously but it takes place in the
form of packets of called quanta. Quantum of light is
called a photon.
Each quanta has definite amount of energy which
depends upon frequency of radiation. The relation is
E = hυ, Where E is energy of photon, h is Planck’s
constant and υ is the frequency of the radiation.
Quantum is the smallest denomination of energy.
The quantum of energy is always an integer.
Energy less than quantum can never be absorbed or
emitted. It can be emitted as whole number
multiple of quantum I.e. 1hυ, 2hυ, 3hυ etc.

Maxwell Electromagnetic theory:

 According to this theory light consists of
fluctuating electric and magnetic fields propagating
in the form of electromagnetic waves.
This theory fails to explain the photoelectric effect.

Lens and its types:

A lens is a optical device that focuses or disperse
light by mean of refraction.
Lenses are made form material like glass or plastic.

Concave lens:
concave lens is a lens that possesses at least one
surface that curves inwards. It is a diverging lens,
meaning that it spreads out light rays that have been
refracted through it. A concave lens is thinner at its
centre than at its edges, and is used to correct short-
sightedness.

Convex lens:
A convex lens is a converging lens. When parallel
rays of light pass through a convex lens the refracted
rays converge at one point called the principal focus.
The distance between the principal focus and the
centre of the lens is called the focal length.
Modulation:
modulation is the process of varying one or more
properties of a periodic waveform, called the carrier
signal, with a modulating signal that typically
contains information to be transmitted. Most radio
systems in the 20th century used frequency
modulation (FM) or amplitude modulation (AM) to
make the carrier carry the radio broadcast.

In general telecommunications, modulation is a

process of conveying message signal, for example, a
digital bit stream or an analog audio signal, inside
another signal that can be physically transmitted.
Modulation of a sine waveform transforms a narrow
frequency range baseband message signal into a
moderate to high frequency range passband signal,
one that can pass through a filter.
A modulator is a device that performs modulation.

The cathode ray oscilloscope :

(CRO) is a type of electrical instrument which is
used for showing the measurement and analysis of
waveforms and others electronic and electrical
phenomenon. It is a very fast X-Y plotter shows the
input signal versus another signal or versus time.
The CROs are used to analyse the waveforms,
transient, phenomena, and other time-varying
quantities from a very low-frequency range to the
radio frequencies.
The main parts of the cathode ray oscilloscope are
as follow:
Cathode Ray Tube
Electronic Gun Assembly
Deflecting Plate
Fluorescent Screen For CRT
Glass Envelop

Refraction:In physics refraction is the change in

direction of a wave passing from one medium to
another or from a gradual change in the medium.
Refraction of light is the most commonly observed
phenomenon, but other waves such as sound waves
and water waves also experience refraction.

Refractive index:
Refractive index, also called index of refraction,
measure of the bending of a ray of light when
passing from one medium into another. If i is the
angle of incidence of a ray in vacuum (angle
between the incoming ray and the perpendicular to
the surface of a medium, called the normal) and r is
the angle of refraction (angle between the ray in the
medium and the normal), the refractive index n is
defined as the ratio of the sine of the angle of
incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction; i.e.,
n = sin i / sin r. Refractive index is also equal to the
velocity of light c of a given wavelength in empty
space divided by its velocity v in a substance, or n =
c/v.
Led:
A light-emitting diode is a two-lead semiconductor
light source. It is a p–n junction diode that emits
light when activated. When a suitable current is
applied to the leads, electrons are able to recombine
with electron holes within the device, releasing
energy in the form of photons.

Photodiode:
A photodiode is a semiconductor device that
converts light into an electrical current. The current
is generated when photons are absorbed in the
photodiode. Photodiodes may contain optical filters,
built-in lenses, and may have large or small surface
areas.
Observations and calculations:

Frequency of transmitter = 60 MHz

=60*10^6 Hz
Frequency of receiver = 100 kHz
=100 *10^3 Hz
Ratio = Frequency of transmitter/frequency of
receiver
Ratio= 600

Speed of light in air medium:

The exact value of speed of light in air =2.99*10^8

m/s
ΔS= 40cm=0.4m
Δt= 0.5 *10^6/600
C in air = Δs/ Δt
=4.8 *10^8m/s

ΔS= 47.5 cm =0.475m

Δt= 0.5 *10^6/600
C in air = Δs/ Δt
=4.9* 10^8m/s

Speed of light in glass medium:

The exact value of speed of light in glass medium is

2*10^8 m/s

ΔS= 43.5cm =0.435m

Δt= 0.6 *10^6/600
C in glass = Δs/ Δt
 =4.3 *10^8m/s
Percentage error = exact value- calculated
value*100/exact value
Percentage error = 115%

Speed of light in water medium:

The exact value of speed of light in water is 2.5*

10^8 m/s

ΔS= 65cm =0.65m

Δt= 0.6 *10^6/600
C in water = Δs/ Δt
=6.3 *10^8m/s
Percentage error = exact value- calculated
value*100/exact value
Percentage error = 190%

Now
Speed of light = c1+c2+c3/3 *100
Speed of light = 4.9 * 10^8 m/s

Percentage error =exact value- calculated

value*100/exact value
Percentage error = 63 %
Conclusion:
In this experiment we concluded that Led emits light
fall on the photodiode in receiver and modulator
modulate this light.
This signal is transferred to oscilloscope which
converts the signal into sine wave.
Along horizontal or x axis we note time value of
speed of light in different mediums like air, water
and glass.
The calculated values of speed of light in these
mediums are different and we got the high
percentage error.
References:
 Wikipedia
 Scribd.com
 Encyclopaedia dictionary of physics volume 2,4
and 5
Electronic devices by Thomas L.Floyd (9th edition)