Guys do you know how Light Emitting Diodes work.... please give a detailed but easy to understand answer.

Question

Guys do you know how Light Emitting Diodes work.... please give a detailed but easy to understand answer.

Answer 1

Firstly, the most common Diode is a Rectifying Diode. This essentially means it only allows for unidirectional power flow. LEDs are most commonly this type of Diode. That's why when you hook up a battery to a diode it will only light up one way. Now for how the diode works its actually quite simple. Diodes run an electrical current through a semiconductor, or a material that is somewhere between an insulator which hinders electrical flow, and a conductor, which promotes electrical flow. Now depending on what this material is will determine what color the light will be. So if you look at a LED, power travels in via the anode, positive side, and through a semiconductor, and back out the cathode, or negative side. When the electricity hits the semiconductor light, visible or not, is made.