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CHINMAYA INTERNATIONAL
RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL COIMBATORE

This is certified as the Bonafide Record of Physics Project done by

……………………………………….. of class XII CBSE, Register No

……………… during the session 2015-2016 submitted for the AISSCE

Physics Practical Examination held on ………………. at Chinmaya

International School, Coimbatore.

………………….. …………………………..
Teacher in Charge Signature of the Principal / HM

Examiners:

Date: ………………… External………………….

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and

deep regards to our Principal Madam Shanti for providing me
with this opportunity.
I would like to thank my physics teacher Satish Sir for his
exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement
throughout the course of this project. I would like to thank Mr.
Siva Kumar the lab assistant for providing me with all the
materials.
I also take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to my
parents for their advice and input.

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 CONTENTS
NO. TITLE PAGE

1 INTRODUCTION 4
2 THEORY 4
3 AIM & APPARATUS 10
4 DIAGRAM 11
5 PROCEDURE 12
6 OBSERVATION AND 13
CALCULATION

7 RESULT 15
8 FUTHER SCOPE 16
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 16
INTRODUCTION
CDs and DVDs are everywhere these days. Whether they are used to hold music,
data or computer software, they have become the standard medium for
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distributing large quantities of information in a reliable package. Compact discs
are easy and cheap to produce.

Compact disc, or CD for short, is a digital optical disc data storage format. The
format was originally developed to store and play back sound recordings only
(CD-DA), but was later adapted for storage of data (CD-ROM). Up to 650 MB of
computer data (equivalent to 300,000 typed pages) or 74 minutes of audio data
can be stored in a single CD. The DVD specification provided a storage capacity
of 4.7 GB for a single-layered, single-sided disc and 8.5 GB for a dual-layered,
single-sided disc.

Diagram of CD Layers
⮚ A polycarbonate disc layer has the data encoded by using bumps.
⮚ A shiny layer reflects the laser
⮚ A layer of lacquer protects the shiny layer
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 ⮚ Artwork is screen printed on the top of the disc.
⮚ A laser beam reads the CD and is reflected back to a sensor, which converts
it into electronic data.

THEORY
COMPACT DISC (CD)
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A CD consists of an injection-moulded piece of clear polycarbonate plastic (1.2 millimetres
or 0.047" thick.) During manufacturing, this plastic is impressed with microscopic bumps
arranged as a single, continuous, extremely long spiral track of data. Once the clear piece of
polycarbonate is formed, a thin, reflective aluminium layer is sputtered onto the disc,
covering the bumps. Then a thin acrylic layer is sprayed over the aluminium to protect it.
The label is then printed onto the acrylic.

Its components from the center outward are: the center spindle hole (15 mm), the
first-transition area (clamping ring), the clamping area (stacking ring), the second transition
area (mirror band), the program (data) area, and the rim. The inner program area occupies a
radius from 25 to 58 mm.

CD data is represented as tiny indentations known as "pits", encoded in a spiral

track moulded into the top of the polycarbonate layer. The areas between pits are known as
"lands". Each pit is approximately 100 nm deep by 500 nm wide, and varies from 850 nm to
3.5 μm in length. The distance between the tracks, the pitch, is 1.5 μm

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The pits and lands themselves do not directly represent the zeros and ones of
binary data. A change from pit to land or land to pit indicates a one, while no
change indicates a series of zeros.

A CD is read by focusing a 780 nm wavelength semiconductor laser through the

bottom of the polycarbonate layer. The change in height between pits and lands
results in a difference in the way the light is reflected. By measuring the intensity change
with a photodiode, the data can be read from the disc.
Commercially purchased CDs have already been pressed, meaning that the bumps have been
created used plastic injected into a mould which contains the desired pattern in reverse. A
metallic layer is then affixed onto the polycarbonate substrate and this layer is itself covered
with a protective coating. Blank CDs (CD-R), by contrast, have an additional layer (located
between the substrate and metallic layer) made of a dye which can be marked (or "burned")
by a high-powered laser (10 times as powerful as the one used for reading them). It is the dye
layer which either absorbs or reflects the beam of light emitted by the laser.

Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)

DVD (short for digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc storage format, invented and
developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage
capacity than compact discs while having the same dimensions. DVD uses 650nm
wavelength laser diode light, as opposed to 780 nm for CD. This shorter wavelength etches a
smaller pit on the media surface compared to a CD (0.74 μm for DVD versus 1.6 μm for
CD), allowing for the increased storage capacity of the DVD.

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Comparison of Various Storage Discs

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Derivation of formula used:
From the given diagram:
d= distance in between the two slits.
X=distance between the screen and the slits.
We know that,
β= distance between two consecutive maxima =x × λ/d
Therefore d= x × λ/β

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 AIM OF THE EXPERIMENT

⮚ CD and DVD.
⮚ To study the difference between CD and DVD

APPARATUS REQUIRED
⮚ Laser He-Ne (650nm)
⮚ Screen
⮚ Ruler
⮚ Holders

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 /
DIAGRAM PICTUREOF THE

APPARATUS

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 PROCEDURE
Determining the spacing between tracks by using concept of
diffraction

1. Set up the laser (λ=650*10-9m), CD and a sheet of paper as shown.

2. Put the CD in a 45 degree angle.
3. A bright spot should be seen on the paper directly underneath the CD along
with other diffraction spots in line with the laser.
4. Determine the position of each spot on the paper
5. Measure:

⮚ Distance of laser beam above paper –L

⮚ Distance between diffraction spots – w

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 OBSERVATIONS AND
CALCULATION
CD Track Spacing

S.NO Distance of laser Distance between Distance between tracks

beam above paper diffraction spots ‘d’ =(L × λ)÷w (m)
‘L’(m) ‘w’ (m)

1 0.0065 0.024 1.76 × 10-6

2 0.0065 0.025 1.69 × 10-6
3 0.0065 0.027 1.56 × 10-6
4 0.0065 0.029 1.45 × 10-6

Average value of w = (0.024+0.025+0.027+0.029) ÷ 4

= 0.026
Average value of d:
d=L × λ ÷ w
= (0.065 × 650×10-9) ÷ 0.026 (m)

=1.61 × 10-6

= 1.51 μm
Number of CD Tracks per millimeter
= 1 mm ÷ 1.61 μm

= 10-3 ÷ 1.61 × 10-6

= 631.11

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DVD Track Spacing

S.NO Distance of laser Distance between Distance between tracks

beam above paper diffraction spots ‘d’ =(L × λ)÷w (m)
‘L’(m) ‘w’ (m)
1 0.0065 0.057 0.74 × 10-6
2 0.0065 0.058 0.72 × 10-6
3 0.0065 0.059 0.71 × 10-6
4 0.0065 0.060 0.70 × 10-6

Average value of w = (0.024+0.025+0.027+0.029) ÷ 4

= 0.058
Average value of d:
d=L × λ ÷ w
= (0.065 × 650×10-9) ÷ 0.058 (m)

=7.20 × 10-7

= 0.72 μm
Number of CD Tracks per millimeter
= 1 mm ÷ 0.72 μm

= 10-3 ÷ 0.72 × 10-6

= 1388.88

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 RESULT
Our Experiment, using the principle of diffraction between CD and DVD tracks resulted in
approximately accurate results in comparison to the literature sources.

CD Track Spacing
It can be inferred from the aforementioned observations that:-

The CD track spacing is 1.61μm which is a just a small deviation from the
literature source value of 1.6 ± 1μm.

DVD Track Spacing

It can be inferred from the aforementioned observations that:-

The DVD track spacing is 0.72μm which is a small deviation from the literature
source value of 0.74μm.

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 LIMITATIONS AND FURTHER
INVESTIGATION OF THE PROJECT

❖Limitations :
⮚ Only one experimental procedure was used to measure the
track spacing of the CD & DVD.
⮚ Only one CD & DVD of the same manufacturer were used to
take the readings.
⮚ The project only deals with the track width of a CD and not the
means of storing data on the CD.

❖Further Scope :
⮚ Obtain interference pattern with double layered DVD with the two layers acting like
double slits and use it to determine separation of the information layers
⮚ Investigate average data bit length in Blu-ray DVD relative to DVD
⮚ Use light sensors and optical levers to investigate oscillating systems

Bibliography:

⮚ http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cd5.htm
⮚ http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What is the track pitch or groove spacing
on a CD DVD or Blu-ray#slide10
⮚ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compactdisc
⮚ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD

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