2

QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY

DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Module 2 Wave-Particle Duality

1. Understand the idea of wave function
2. Explain the differences in classical and quantum mechanics
3. Discuss the principle of photoelectric effect and electromagnetic
Competencies effect,
4. Perform basic calculations in relativistic kinematics and dynamics.

Discussion The ability to exhibit interference effects is essential characteristics of

waves. One of the most incredible discoveries of the twentieth-century
physics is that particles can also behave like waves, and exhibit
interference effects. For instance, Figure 2.1 shows a version of Young’s
experiment performed by directing a beam of electrons onto a double slit. In
this experiment, the screen is like a television screen and glows wherever
an electron strikes it. Part a of the drawing indicates the pattern that would
be seen on the screen if each electron, behaving strictly as a particle, were
to pass through one slit or the other and strike the screen. The pattern
would consist of an image of each slit. Part b shows the pattern actually
observed, which consists of bright and dark fringes, reminiscent of what is
obtained when light waves pass through a double slit. The fringe pattern
indicates that the electrons are exhibiting the interference effects associated
with waves. Experiments that demonstrated the particle-like behavior of
waves were performed near the beginning of twentieth century, before the
experiments demonstrated the wave-like properties of the electrons.
Scientists now accept the wave- particle duality as an essential part of
nature:

Figure 2.1 (a) If electrons behaved as discrete particles with no wave

properties, they would pass through one or the other of the two slits and
strike the screen, causing it to glow and produce exact images of the
slits. (b) In reality, the screen reveals a pattern of bright and dark
fringes, similar to the pattern produced when a beam of light is used
and interference occurs between the light waves coming from each slit.

Waves can exhibit particle-like characteristics, and particles can exhibit

wave-like characteristics.

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 2
QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Blackbody Radiation and Planck’s Constant

All bodies, no matter how hot or cold, continuously radiate

electromagnetic waves. For instance, we see the glow of very hot objects
because they emit electromagnetic waves in the visible region of the
spectrum. Our sun, which has a surface temperature of about 6000 K,
appears yellow, while the cooler star Betelgeuse has a red-orange
appearance due to its lower surface temperature of 2900 K. However,at
relatively low temperatures,cooler objects emit visible light waves only
weakly and, as a result, do not appear to be glowing. Certainly the human
body, at only 310 K, does not emit enough visible light to be seen in the
dark with the unaided eye. But the body does emit electromagnetic waves in
the infrared region of the spectrum, and these can be detected with
infrared-sensitive devices. As the temperature of an object increases, the
object eventually begins to glow red. At sufficiently high temperatures, it
appears to be white, as in the glow of the hot tungsten filament of a
lightbulb. A careful study of thermal radiation shows that it consists of a
continuous distribution of wavelengths from the infrared, visible, and
ultraviolet portions of the spectrum.

At a given temperature, the intensities of the electromagnetic waves

emitted by an object vary from wavelength to wavelength throughout the
visible, Infrared, and other regions of the spectrum. Figure 5 illustrates how
the intensity per unit wavelength depends on wavelength for a perfect
blackbody emitter.

As previous section, it discusses a perfect blackbody at a constant

temperature absorbs and reemits all the electromagnetic radiation that falls
on it. The two curves in Figure 5 show that at a higher temperature the
maximum emitted intensity per unit wavelength increases and shifts to
shorter wavelengths, toward the visible region of the spectrum. In
accounting for the shape of these curves, the German physicist Max Planck
(1858–1947) took the first step toward our present understanding of the
wave–particle duality.

Figure 5. The electromagnetic radiation

emitted by a perfect blackbody has an
intensity per unit wavelength that
varies from wavelength to wavelength,
as each curve indicates. At the higher
temperature, the intensity per unit
wavelength is greater, and the
maximum occurs at a shorter
wavelength.

In 1900 Planck calculated the blackbody radiation curves, using model

that represents a blackbody as a large number of atomic oscillators, each of
which emits and absorbs electromagnetic waves. Planck hypothesized that
blackbody radiation was produced by submicroscopic charged oscillators,
which he called resonators. He assumed the walls of a glowing cavity were
composed of billions of these resonators, although their exact nature was
unknown. The resonators were allowed to have only certain discrete energies
En, given by
VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 2
QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

En = nhf
where n is a positive integer called a quantum number, f is the frequency of
vibration of the resonator, and h is a constant known as Planck’s constant,
which has the value

h = 6.626 x 10 -34 J * s

The radical feature of Planck’s assumption was that the energy of an atomic
oscillator could have only discrete values (hf,2hf,3hf, etc.), with energies in
between these values being forbidden. Whenever the energy of a system can
have only certain definite values, and nothing in between, the energy is said
to be quantized. This quantization of the energy was unexpected on the
basis of the traditional physics of the time. However, it was soon realized
that energy quantization had wide-ranging and valid implications.

Although the spotlight beams in

the photograph look like
Photons and the continuous beams
Photoelectric of light, each
Effect
is composed of discrete photons.
(©Albert Normandin/Masterfile)

In the latter part of the

19th century, experiments
showed that light incident on
certain metallic surfaces caused
the emission of electrons from
the surfaces. This phenomenon
is known as the photoelectric
effect, and the emitted
electrons are called
photoelectrons. The first
discovery of this phenomenon
was made by Hertz, who was
also the first to produce the
electromagnetic waves
predicted by Maxwell.

In 1905, Einstein presented an explanation of the photoelectric effect

that took advantage of Planck’s work concerning blackbody radiation. It was
primarily for his theory of the photoelectric effect that he was awarded the
Nobel Prize in physics in 1921. In his photoelectric theory, Einstein
proposed that light of frequency f could be regarded as a collection of
discrete packets of energy (photons), each packet containing an amount of
energy E given by

Energy of a photon E = hf (Equation 5)

where h is Planck’s constant. The light energy given off by a light bulb,
for instance, is carried by photons. The brighter the bulb, the greater is the
number of photons emitted per second.

Example: Photons from a light bulb

In converting electrical energy into light energy, a sixty-watt
incandescent light bulb operates at about 2.1% efficiency. Assuming that all
VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 2
QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

the light is green light (vacuum wavelength = 555 nm), determine the
number of photons per second given off by the bulb.

Reasoning: The number of photons emitted per second can be found by

dividing the amount of light energy emitted per second by the energy E of
one photon. The energy of a single photon is E = hf, according to Equation 5.
The frequency f of the photon is related to its wavelength λ by Equation 5 as
f = c/λ.

Solution: At an efficiency of 2.1%, the light energy emitted per second by a

sixty-watt bulb is (0.021) (60.0 J/s) = 1.3 J/s. The energy of a single photon
is

Therefore,
Number of
photons emitted =
per second

According to Einstein, when light shines on a metal, a photon can give

up its energy to an electron in the metal. If the photon has enough energy to
do the work of removing the electron from the metal, the electron can be
ejected. For the least strongly held electrons, the necessary work has a
minimum value W0 and is called the work function of the metal. Einstein
applied the conservation-of-energy principle and proposed the following
relation to describe the photoelectric effect:

Example:
The work function for a silver surface is W0 = 4.73 eV. Find the minimum
frequency that light must have to eject electrons from this surface.

Reasoning The minimum frequency f0 is that frequency at which the photon

energy equals the work function W0 of the metal, so the electron is ejected
with zero kinetic energy. Since 1 eV = 1.60 x 10-19 J, the work function
expressed in joules is

Using the formula, we find

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 2
QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Enrichment
Activities Check Your Understanding
1. An AM radio station broadcasts an electromagnetic wave with a
frequency of 665 kHz, whereas an FM station broadcasts an
electromagnetic wave with a frequency of 91.9 MHz. How many AM
photons are needed to have a total energy equal to that of one FM
photon?
2. A photon of red light (wavelength 720 nm) and a Ping-Pong ball (mass
= 2.2 x 10-3 kg) have the same momentum. At what speed is the ball
moving? rest with respect to the events that define the time interval.

3. An astronomer is measuring the electromagnetic radiation emitted

by two stars, which are both assumed to be perfect blackbody
emitters. For each star she makes a plot of the radiation intensity
per unit wavelength as a function of wavelength. She notices that
the curve for star A has a maximum that occurs at a shorter
wavelength than does the curve for star B. What can she conclude
about the surface temperatures of the two stars?
(a) Star A has the greater surface temperature.
(b) Star B has the greater surface temperature.
(c) Both stars, being perfect blackbody emitters, have the same
surface temperature.
(d) There is not enough information to draw a conclusion about the
temperatures.

Comprehension Evaluate your own understanding.

Check 1. The photons emitted by a source of light do not all have the same
energy. Is the source monochromatic? (A monochromatic light source
emits light that has a single wavelength.) If the speed c of light in a
vacuum were infinitely large instead of 3.0 x 10 8 m/s, would the
effects of time dilation and length contraction be observable?
2. Which colored light bulb—red, orange, yellow, green, or violet—emits
photons with (a) the least energy and (b) the greatest energy?

3. Does a photon emitted by a higher-wattage red light bulb have more

energy than a photon emitted by a lower-wattage red bulb?
4. In the photoelectric effect, electrons are ejected from the surface of a
metal when light shines on it. Which one or more of the following
would lead to an increase in the maximum kinetic energy of the
ejected electrons?
(a) Increasing the frequency of the incident light
(b) Increasing the number of photons per second striking the surface
(c) Using photons whose frequency f0 is less than W0/h, where W0 is
the work function of the metal and h is Planck’s constant
(d) Selecting a metal that has a greater work function

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 2
QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

Answer Key
1. No. The photons emitted by a source of light do not all have the same
energy. Since the photons do not all have the same energy, then, from
Equation 5, we can conclude that the photons do not all have the
same frequency. Therefore, the source is not monochromatic.

2. The frequency of visible light ranges from  (red light)

to  (violet light). According to Equation, the energy, E,

of a photon is related to its frequency, f, by the relation  ,
where h is Planck's constant. According to Equation, the energy of a
photon is directly proportional to its frequency.

a. The red-colored light bulb emits photons with the lowest frequency
compared to light bulbs of other colors (orange, yellow, green, or
blue); therefore, the red-colored light bulb emits photons with the
lowest energy.

b. The color blue appears next to violet in the continuous visible

spectrum; therefore, the frequency of blue light is slightly smaller
than that of violet, but greater than the frequency of other colors of
the visible spectrum. Thus, the blue-colored light bulb emits photons
with the highest frequency compared to the other light bulbs;
therefore, the blue-colored light bulb emits photons with the greatest
energy.

3. No. A photon emitted by a higher-wattage red light bulb does not have

more energy than a photon emitted by a lower-wattage red bulb. The
wattage of a bulb describes the power output of a bulb

4. B. When a sufficient number of visible light photons strike a piece of

photographic film, the film becomes exposed. An X-ray photon is
more energetic than a visible light photon. Yet, most photographic
films are not exposed by the X-ray machines used at airport security
checkpoints. Since a single X-ray photon is more energetic than a
single photon of visible light, we can conclude that the number of X-
ray photons per unit time emitted by airport security machines is
much smaller than the number of visible light photons per unit time
produced by normal lighting fixtures.

References Amato, J. et.al.. Modern Introductory Physics. USA: Springer. 2010

Cutnell & Johnson. Physics, Ninth Edition. John Wiley & Sons Inc. 2012

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 2
QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”

 2
QUIRINO STATE UNIVERSITY
DIFFUN CAMPUS
Diffun, 3401 Quirino

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION

VISION MISSION
The leading center for academic and technological excellence Develop competent and morally upright professionals and generate
and prime catalyst for a progressive and sustainable Quirino appropriate knowledge and technologies to meet the needs of Quirino
Province and Southern Cagayan Valley. Province and Southern Cagayan Valley.

“Molding Minds, Shaping Future”