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Experiment - Verify Inverse Square

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8 views

Experiment - Verify Inverse Square

Uploaded by

muzahir.ali.baloch2021
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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EXPERIMENT 1

Inverse Square Law

1. Energy flow

The power radiated by a source of light is described by the flow


of light away from it, into a particular direction, and through a
defined surface. The intensity I is the energy emitted per unit time,
per unit area of the source, per unit frequency interval, per unit
solid angle into a chosen direction. The flux F is the energy flowing
per unit time onto a detector, through a unit area of its surface, per
unit frequency interval. So if a point source emits energy at a rate P
joule/sec uniformly into all directions and summed over all
frequencies, then the flux through a sphere around it of radius r is
simply

(1)

This is the inverse square law describing the decline of flux


with increasing distance from the source. The energy of light is
carried by quanta, each with energy . Since these quanta travel at
the speed of light , those in a shell of thickness will pass
through the outer surface of the shell in the time / . Since the
area of the shell is 4 , if there are n photons per unit volume in
the shell, the number passing through the surface per second will be

4 (2)

[1]
each with energy . With this quantum view, the flux must be this
number times the energy per photon, divided by the surface area, or

(3)

(4)

The equations for flux must measure the same thing. It follows
that the density of photons depends on distance from the source too
according to

(5)

(6)

The photon density also decreases as the 2nd power of . Either a


detector counting photons or one measuring energy will show an inverse
square law with distance from the source.

2. The experiment

Light source and detector

For this experiment we use a zirconium arc lamp, a bright source


only about 0.1 mm in diameter. An electrical discharge occurs between
a small metal rod and a disk with a matching hole. The hole is the
“point” source. To turn on the lamp, flip the switch and if necessary
press the red start button. The source should be located at one end of

[2]
the optical bench. A schematic illustration of the experiment is shown
in Figure 1.1.
The flux is measured with a p‐n junction photodiode. This device
is sensitive to wavelengths from the infrared (1000 nm) to the near
ultraviolet (380 nm). It has a small area less than 1 mm2 so that the
photoelectron current is proportional to the flux at the detector. The
current flows through the input impedance of a voltmeter to produce
signals of a few millivolts.
The photodiode is located on an optical bench with a precision
millimeter scale. You will measure the photocurrent for several
positions of the diode to see how the signal depends on separation of
detector and source.

How to begin

Select a scale of 200 millivolts on the voltmeter. Turn on the


light source. Set the detector at about the 30 cm mark and record the
signal. It should be of the order of 100 mV.

What to measure

Record the position of the light source carrier, and take


readings with the photodiode carrier at every 5 cm out to 100 cm. All
the other lights in the booth should be off to avoid an inaccurate
measurement. Be careful if you are standing forward of the detector
because you can scatter stray light back toward it.

[3]
Figure 1.1: In the inverse square law experiment a zirconium arc point
light source illuminates a photodiode a distance away. The photodiode
output is measured with a digital millivoltmeter.

Correction for scale zero

Carefully estimate the distance of the point source from the


index mark on its carrier using a ruler. A measurement to an accuracy
of a few mm should suffice. Similarly, estimate the distance from the

[4]
photodiode to the index on its carrier. For each measurement of flux
calculate the separation of the source and the photodiode.

Observe inverse square behavior

Enter the data into a file on a computer and plot and view the
data. Plot graphs of versus , and also versus 1/ . Include
printed versions of these graphs with your lab reports. The inverse
square law may not seem to hold over the full range of 's. Why? Try to
mask the "point source" you have so that it is more like a perfect
point source. Also try a very extended source such as a fluorescent
tube light. Graph the power flux versus distance for these too. For
the extended source, what is the behavior of at small , and why?

Check that it really is a power of 2

Create plots of versus . Show that if the inverse


square law holds the slope of this graph should be ‐2. Do a linear
least squares fit to the log data, excluding any region you think may
suffer from a systematic error. What slope do you find? Include screen
dumps of the graphs with your lab report.

A little homework problem ...

For a 100 watt lamp emitting an average wavelength of 550 nm how


many photons would there be per cm3 at a distance of 1 meter from the
lamp? How does this compare to the number of molecules per cm3 in air
at atmospheric pressure?

[5]

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