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Student Exploration: Photoelectric Effect

Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.

Vocabulary: electron volt, frequency, photoelectric effect, photon, photon flux, voltage, wavelength, work
function

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. Suppose you went bowling, but instead of a bowling ball you rolled a ping pong ball down the alley. What
do you think would happen?

The ping pong ball won't be able to push down the pins and it would bounce off

2. Suppose you rolled a lot of ping pong balls at the bowling pins. Do you think that would change the results
of your experiment? Explain.

no i don't think the ping pong would be strong enough to know down the pins, but if you have
multiple ping pong ball and toss them at the pin then it might be able to push it down

Gizmo Warm-up
The photoelectric effect occurs when tiny packets of light, called
photons, knock electrons away from a metal surface. Only
photons with enough energy are able to dislodge electrons.

In the Photoelectric Effect Gizmo, check that the Wavelength is

500 nm, the Photon flux is 5 γ/ms, the Voltage is 0.0 volts, and
Potassium is selected. Click Flash the light to send photons of
light (green arrows) toward a metal plate encased in a vacuum
tube.

1. The blue dots on the metal plate are electrons. What happens when the photons hit the electrons?

WHen the photons hit the electron they are pushed off of the metal plate then they move to
the opposite side

2. What happens when the electrons reach the light bulb?

when electrons hit it then it glows briefly

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When electrons reach the light bulb they complete a circuit, causing the bulb to glow briefly.

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 Activity A: Get the Gizmo ready:

Wavelength and ● Check that the Voltage is 0.0 volts and Potassium
flux is selected.

Introduction: Through the centuries, many scientists have debated whether light is a wave or a stream of tiny
particles. In the 1800s, most scientists agreed that phenomena such as refraction and diffraction supported the
“light as a wave” theory. However, Albert Einstein’s explanation of the photoelectric effect showed that light can
act like a stream of particles as well.

Question: What factors affect the ability of light to free electrons from a metal surface?

1. Observe: Click Flash the light with a variety of wavelength values. What do you notice?

More than 530 nm of light won't have any impact on the electrons. The wavelength of light
increases as it approaches 530 nm, increasing the speed of electrons.

2. Observe: The photon flux is a measure of how bright the light is. It is equal to the number of photons that
are released in a given time. It is given as photons (γ) per millisecond (ms).

Click Flash the light with a variety of Photon flux values. What do you notice?

The more photons that reach the metals, the more intense the light is.

3. Form hypothesis: Answer the following questions based on what you have observed so far.

A. Which factor determines how many photons will strike the metal? Intensity

Explain: As the intensity rises, the photons increase.

B. Which factor determines how much energy each photon has? Wavelength

Explain: As the wavelength decreases, the speed of the electrons that are released
rises.

4. Investigate: Set the Photon flux to 1 γ/ms. Use the Gizmo to find the longest wavelength that will dislodge
an electron from the metal surface. What is this wavelength?

530nm

5. Predict: Set the Wavelength to 540 nm. What do you think will happen if you flash the light with a photon
flux of 1 γ/ms? What if you flash the light with a flux of 10 γ/ms?

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 I believe there won't be any electron releases.

6. Test: Click Flash the light with a Photon flux of 1 γ/ms and again with a flux of 10 γ/ms.

What happened?

There was no electron release.

7. Explore: Set the Wavelength to 400 nm. Experiment with different photon fluxes.

A. Does the photon flux affect how many electrons are emitted? yep

Explain: One electron was released at 10% intensity, while two electrons were
released at 20% intensity.

B. Does the photon flux affect the energy (speed) of the emitted no
electrons?

Explain: Even when the intensity changed, the released electrons' speed remained
constant.

8. Infer: For mechanical waves, such as sound waves or ocean waves, increasing the intensity of the wave
increases both the amplitude (height) of the wave and the energy it carries. In that situation, a
low-frequency but high-intensity wave should have the same effect as a high-frequency but low-intensity
wave. How does light behave differently from this model?

Because intense light does not have the same effects as non-intense light, light acts
differently from the model. Even when shining at a great intensity, long-wavelength light has
no effect on the electrons.

9. Think and discuss: How is firing photons at the surface of a metal analogous to rolling different types of
balls at a set of bowling pins? If possible, discuss your answer with your classmates and teacher.

Light photons behave like bowling balls as they roll toward bowling pins. The mass of the
bowling ball and the wavelength of photons are comparable. Throwing tiny balls at bowling
pins is comparable to firing long-wavelength photons at metal objects. A collision with a metal
object will cause electrons to shoot out like bowling pins when they are knocked over.

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:
● Set the Wavelength to 300 nm, the Photon flux to
Voltage gradients 10 γ/ms, and the Voltage to 0.0 volts.
● Turn on Show voltage gradient.

Introduction: The electrons that are freed from the surface of the metal have a specific amount of kinetic
energy. Faster electrons have greater energies than slower ones. The energy of emitted electrons is measured
by setting up an electrical field that opposes their motion. The voltage of the field is a measure of its strength.

Goal: Use a voltage gradient to measure the energy of emitted electrons.

1. Observe: Check that Potassium is selected. Click Flash the light and observe the emitted electrons.
Increase the Voltage to 1.5 volts, and click Flash the light again.

How does the electrical field affect the motion of the emitted electrons?

The electrical field causes the electrons to slow down as they go through the tube

2. Measure: The energy of an emitted electron is measured in electron volts (eV). An electron with an
energy of 1 eV can overcome an electrical field of 1 volt. In the Gizmo, increase the voltage until you find
the highest voltage that still allows the electrons to reach the light bulb.

What is this value? 1.8ev This is equal to the energy of the emitted electrons in eV.

3. Gather data: With the Wavelength set to 300 nm, measure the energy of emitted electrons for potassium,
calcium, and uranium. Then measure the same values with wavelengths of 250 nm and 200 nm to
complete the table.

Energy of emitted electrons (eV)

Element
300 nm 250 nm 200 nm
Potassium 1.8 2.6 3.8
Calcium 1.2 2.0 3.2
Uranium .5 1.3 2.5

4. Analyze: What patterns do you notice in your data?

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 As the energy of the released electrons rises, the wavelength of the light decreases.

5. Infer: Based on your data, which element is hardest to extract electrons from? Uranium

Explain At each wavelength, the electrons produced by uranium have the least energy.
:

Get the Gizmo ready:

Activity C:
● Set the Voltage to 0.0 volts and select Potassium.
Work functions ● You will need a calculator and a copy of the
periodic table of the elements for this activity.

Introduction: It is easier to remove electrons from some elements than others. The energy required to free an
electron from the surface of a solid is the work function of the element.

Question: How much energy is required to liberate electrons from a material?

1. Predict: In general, the difficulty of removing electrons increases from left to right across each row of the
periodic table. Look up potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and uranium (U). Based on their positions in the
periodic table, which of these elements do you expect to have the lowest work function? Which element will
have the highest work function?

Lowest work function: Potassium Highest work function: Uranium

2. Gather data: Use the Gizmo to determine the highest wavelength for each element that still removes
electrons. Fill in the first column below. (Leave the other columns blank for now.)

Element Wavelength (nm) Frequency (Hz) Work function (eV)

Potassium 530nm 5.66 × 1014Hz 2.34 eV
Calcium 420nm 7.14 × 1014Hz 2.95 eV
Uranium 340nm 8.82 ×1014Hz 3.65 eV

3. Calculate: The frequency of a wave, measured in hertz (Hz), is the number of waves that passes a point
each second. To calculate the frequency (f) of an electromagnetic wave, divide the speed of light (c) by the
wavelength (λ):

The speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s, or approximately 3.0 × 1017 nm/s. Using the equation, calculate the
frequency of each wavelength given in the table. Fill in the second column.

4. Calculate: The energy of a photon depends on its frequency. The energy of a photon (E) in electron volts is
equal to its frequency (f) multiplied by Planck’s constant (h):

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 E (eV) = h·f

In this calculation, h is equal to 4.136 × 10-15 eV·s. Calculate the work function of each element in the table
above. (Note: The values in your table are approximations.)

5. Draw conclusions: Based on the calculated work function for each element, which element holds onto its
electrons most tightly? Explain.

Because it has the highest work function, uranium is the element that holds its electrons in
place the tightest.

6. Think and discuss: When the photoelectric effect was discovered, scientists were surprised that
low-frequency light was unable to remove electrons, even when the light was very bright. In other words,
scientists expected the low frequency to be offset by the light’s brightness.

How does thinking about light as a stream of particles, rather than a single wave, explain this result? If
possible, discuss your answer with your classmates and teacher.

If low-frequency light were a wave, it should be able to remove electrons from a metal's
surface if it is emitted at a strong enough intensity. Only photons with a high enough energy
would be able to free electrons from the surface of a metal if light were made up of a stream
of photons. While the number of photons rises with increased light intensity, photon energy
does not. Therefore, even with very high light intensity, no electrons would be released.

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