JAWAHAR HIGHER SECONDARY

SCHOOL
NEYVELI
(AFFLIATED TO C.B.S.E)
SESSION

2014-

2015

PHYSICSPROJECT

INVESTIGATORY
ON

Study on validity of Seebeck Effect for

copper-aluminium themocouple

N.R.ARUN KAUSHIK
C.BATHRINATH

MR.K.VIJAYA KUMAR

SUBMITTED TO

SUBMITTED BY

CLASS 12 PHYSICS
TEACHER

S.BALAJI
R.M.LALIT KUMAR

Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true

education.

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify
that
the project
work
titled
Study on validity of
SEEBECK
EFFECT
for
copper
aluminium
thermocouple
submitted
by
N.R.ARUN
KAUSHIK/C.BATHRINATH/S.BALAJI/
R.M.LALIT
KUMAR (class XIIth Section A - PCM group)
in
partial fulfilment of the credit for the physics
project evaluation from JAWAHAR HIGHER
SECONDARY SCHOOL, NEYVELI , is the bonafide
work of the student done under the guidance
and
supervision
of
Mr.K.VIJAYAKUMAR
,
Physics
Teacher,JHSS
during session 2014-2015, as a project report.
NAME:

SUBJECT:

REGISTRATION NO. :

CLASS:

DATE:

PLACE:

INTERNAL EXAMINER

EXTERNAL EXAMINER

PRINCIPAL

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Acknowledgement is the most beautiful page in any

projects final pages. More than a formality, this appears to
us the best opportunity to express our gratitude.
Our project can never begin without you, dear GOD.
Rather than saying thank you to you, you know that we
feel like saying I love you, to you, always. We must say
thanks to our parents who provided us sufficient money and
help in making of this project.
Mr.K.Vijaya Kumar, you are the real foundation of the
project done by us. Our project would never have been
possible without your guidance. Thank you very much.
Special thanks to our Principal, our Vice Principal and our
physics teachers, Mr. B.Soma Sankara Rao
and Mrs.
V.Vijayalakshmi who gave support to us and library which
provides all useful books related to this project.
Next on our thank list are our friends, teachers who
really showered constructive feedbacks and suggestions
without which this project would not have been in present
form.

N.R.ARUN KAUSHIK
R.M.LALIT KUMAR
C.BATHRINATH
S.BALAJI

DECLARATION

We hereby declare that the project work entitled Study

on validity of SEEBECK EFFECT for copper

aluminium
thermocouple
submitted
to
the
JAWAHAR HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL, NEYVELI is
a record of original work done by us, except for
quotations and summaries
which
have
been
duly
acknowledged, under the guidance of "Mr. K.Vijaya
Kumar, Physics Teacher, JHSS ". The project has not been
accepted for any credits based on investigatory projects
previously.
N. R. ARUN
KAUSHIK
C.BATHRINATH
R.M.LALIT KUMAR
S. BALAJI

INDEX
SL.
NO
.

PAGE
TOPIC

NO.

OBJECTIVE

INTRODUCTION

AIM

APPARATUS REQUIRED

THEORY

PROCEDURE

OBSERVATION & CONCLUSIONS

10

BIBLIOGRAPHY

11

OBJECTIVE
The objective of
is

this project

to experimentally

verify

the S E E B E C K
E F F E C T on a thermo
couple.

SEEBECK
EFFECT
FOR Cu-Al
COUPLE

INTRODUCTION
HISTORY
The

Seebeck effect is

directly

the conversion of

into electricity and

is

temperature differences

named

after

the

Baltic

German physicist Thomas Johann Seebeck.

Seebeck, in 1821, discovered that a compass needle would be deflected by
a closed loop formed by two different metals joined in two places, with a

temperature difference between the junctions. This was because the metals
responded to the temperature difference in different ways, creating
a current loop and a magnetic field.
Seebeck did not recognize there was an electric current involved, so he
called the phenomenon as thermomagnetic effect. Danish physicist Hans
Christian

ersted rectified

the

mistake

and

coined

the

term

"thermoelectricity".
The Seebeck effect is a classic example of an electromotive force (emf) and
leads to measurable currents or voltages in the same way as any other emf.
Electromotive forces modify Ohm's law by generating currents even in the
absence of voltage differences (or vice versa)

Seebeck EFFECT

The Figure shows two metallic strips, made of different metals

and joined at the ends to form a loop. If the junctions are kept at different
temperatures, there is an electric current in the loop.The magnitude and
the direction of the emf depend on the metals and the temperatures
of the hot and cold junctions.
Such a combination of two metals is called a thermocouple. The
following graph shows the free energy variations of a thermocouple in
Seebeck experiment.

EXPLANATION FOR Seebeck EFFECT

The production of Seebeck emf can be explained as under:
All metals contain large number of free electrons. The density of free
electrons is different in different metals and depends upon the temperature.
When two different metals are connected to form two junctions and these
junctions are kept at different temperatures free electrons will diffuse into
one another metal at the junctions.
Net flow is from higher electron pressure to the metal of lower electron
pressure. If the junctions are at the same temperature the emf at one
junction will be equeal and opposite to that in the other junction. Hence the
emf is zero.

Thermoelectric Series.
For given temperatures of hot and cold junctions, the direction of the
current in a thermocouple depends on the metals chosen.
Metals are
arranged in a particular sequence which may be used to predict the direction
of the current in the temperature range 0 C to 100C. This sequence known
as the thermoelectric series, is as follows:
Antimony, nichrome, iron , zinc, copper, gold, silver, lead, alumi9nium,
mercury, platinum-rhodium, platinum, nickel, constantan, bismuth.
At the cold junction, the current is from the metal coming earlier in the
series to the metal coming latter in the series. For example, in a copperaluminium thermocouple, the current will be from aluminium to copper at the
cold junction.

Also, the series gives an idea of the relative magnitude of emf for different
thermocouples, Farther apart two metals lie in the series, larger is the emf
produced.

AIM
The aim of this project is
to study
the generation
of thermo-current for Cu-Al
(copper-aluminium)
thermocouple.

APPARATUS REQUIRED

MULTIMETER

COPPER AND
ALUMINIUM WIRES

ICE CUBES

CANDLE STICKS

THERMALLY
INSULATED

THEORY

Let us consider a thermocouple of two metals Fe and

Cu. Their junctions are kept cold and hot. If a
galvanometer G is connected in the circuit the
galvanometer
deflection
is
observed
which
corresponds to thermoelectric current.
If the
temperature of the hot junction be continuously
increased, thermoelectric current increases until
maximum value is reached. The temperature of the
hot junction at which maximum current flows is
constant for a given thermocouple. It is independent
of the temperature of cold junction and is called the
neutral temparture, for the couple.
On further
increasing the temperature of hot junction the current
decreases to zero and is then reversed.
The
temperature at which the current is zero and its
reversal begins is called inversion temperature. It
depends on the temperature of cold junction and the
chosen couple. It is always as much above the

neutral temperature as the cold junction is below it.

Thus
Ti Tn =Tn Tc
Here, Ti = inversion temperature
Tn = neutral temperature and
Tc = cold junction temperature.

The graph between the emf and the temperature

difference of the two junction is of the parabolic form
of majority of couples. Thus, emf can be given as,
e = a + bt + ct

PROCEDURE:

Take two copper wires AB and CD and an

aluminium wire EF.
Connect the wires AB and CD though a
multimeter.
The ends A and D are tied with the ends E
and F of aluminium wire.
The tied wires are kept in hot and cold
junction. Candles and Ice cubes act as heat
source, heat sink respectively.

Now the multimeter shows deflection.

OBSERVATION AND
CONCLUSIONS

From
the
experiment,
we
observe that a milli-volt potential
difference was created between
the hot and cold junctions. So
there was a small current flowing
through
the
thermocouple(measured through
a sensitive multimeter). Like this,
there
are
quite
a
few
thermocouples which can show
Seebeck effect. Thus we have
experimentally
verified
and
validated the Seebeck effect.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference books:
NCERT CLASS 12 PHYSICS
BOOKS - PART I, II
CONCEPTS OF PHYSICS -BY
H.C.VERMA
NCERT LABORATORY MANUAL CLASS 12 PHYSICS
UNDERSTANDING PHYSICS- BY
D.C.PANDEY
Reference websites:

www.google.co.in
en.wikipedia.org