The Photoelectric Effect

(OR…HOW EINSTEIN REALLY

BECAME FAMOUS)
 Photo (light) + electric
 A photoelectric effect is any effect in which light
energy is converted to electricity.

 First explained by Albert Einstein in 1905

When light strikes certain light-sensitive materials…

 It may cause them to give up electrons.

 Photoelectric Effect

Metal Foil
 Photoelectric Effect

Metal Foil
 Photoelectric Effect

►As blue light strikes the metal foil, the foil emits
electrons.
Photoelectric Effect
 Photoelectric Effect

►When red light hits the metal foil, the foil does not
emit (give off) electrons.
►Blue light has more energy than red light.

►How could we get more energy into the red light?

►Try increasing the brightness (intensity).
Photoelectric Effect
 Photoelectric Effect

►That didn’t work

►Maybe its still not bright (intense) enough.
Photoelectric Effect
 Photoelectric Effect

►Still not working.

►What happens with brighter (more intense) blue
light?
Photoelectric Effect
 Photoelectric Effect

►More blue light means more electrons emitted, but

that doesn’t work with red.
Photoelectric Effect
 Photoelectric Effect

 High FREQUENCY light  Low Frequency light,

even from a dim source even very bright (very
can eject electrons from a intense) cannot dislodge
photosensitive metal electrons
 Photoelectric Effect

►Light, like all other radiation, is made up of small

particles called photons.

►The higher the frequency, the more energy the

photons have.

►Einstein stated that light interacts with matter

as a stream of particle-like photons.

►Einstein received the Nobel Prize for this discovery.

Einstein won the Nobel Prize for the
Photoelectric Effect, not E= mc²
 Photoelectric Effect
 If a photon hits an atom of a certain material, it may
be absorbed by an electron of that material.

 However, if the photon has enough energy, the

electron is ejected, or emitted, from the atom.

 In this way, light energy changes into electrical

energy.
 Photoelectric Effect
 If wires are attached to a photoemittive material,
the electrons can flow along the wires, forming an
electric current.
 WHY IS THE PHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT SO
IMPORTANT?
 It helped explain the
particle nature of light.

 It is the basis of the

quantum theory.

 It is used in photocells e.g.

in solar calculators,
alarms, automatic garage
door openers, flash of a
camera
 Burglar Alarms
 When the light source to the semiconductor is
interrupted by a person walking through the beam
of light, a switch is activated that triggers the
alarm.
 Review- Photoelectric Effect
 What it is :
The ejection of electrons from certain metals when light falls
upon them. The metals are said to be photosensitive
(sensitive to light)

 Who and When:

Einstein explained the photoelectric effect in 1905, but won
the Nobel Prize in 1921