Measuring Plancks Constant using LED

Objective:
To determine Plancks constant experimentally
Materials:
1) Four LEDs emitting colored light one each of red, orange, green and blue. Choose LEDs
with a clear, colorless casing surrounding the LED, so that the color of the light comes from the
device itself, not from the colored casing.
2) 9V Battery or 0-10 DC power supply
3) Two multimeters (one to be used as a voltmeter and the other as an ammeter).
4) 10 k potentiometer or rheostat.
5) 1 K, watts resistor

Procedure:

Fig 2. Circuit Diagram

Fig 3. Shows the animated setup

of the experiment

1. Set up the circuit as shown in the diagram above. Connect the ammeter in series with the
LED to measure the current through it, and connect the voltmeter in parallel to the LED
to measure the voltage across it. The applied voltage can be changed by using
potentiometer or rheostat.
2. Change the voltage with an interval of 0.05V from 0 V to 3 V, and measure the resulting
electrical current until the LED lights up. Note that when the current flowing through the
LED is small, the LED might not light up, but the ammeter can still measure the current.
To protect the LED, make sure that the current does not exceed above 5 mA
3. Repeat, by changing the LED and jot down the corresponding knee voltage.
4. To get the best result, perform three (3) trials on each LED.
5. Use the given formula to find the value of the Planck's constant.

Table 1. Data
Color of LED

Wavelength ()
nm

Knee voltage
(V) volt

xV

h=eV/c