Topic

WHAT IS A PHOTON? And

Presented By:
Wave Particle
Faiza Asghar
Duality
Layba Naeem
Areej Fatima
Kinza Shakeel
Laiba Faisal
Tayyba Tariq
Jawad Ahmed
Danish Hanif
 WHAT IS Photon?
A photon is a piece of energy
has no mass
moves at the speed of light
acts like a particle
The energy of a photon is quantized

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 Energy of a photon
We can measure the energy of a photon using Einstein’s equation:

E = hf =
⋆ h = 6.63 ×Js Planck constant
⋆ f = frequency of photon / electromagnetic radiation
⋆ c=3× speed of light
⋆ = wavelength of photon / electromagnetic radiation

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Wave-Particle Duality:
Wave-particle duality refers to the
fundamental property of  matter where, at one
moment it appears like a wave, and yet at
another moment it acts like a particle.

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 History of wave particle duality.

 Through the work of Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niles Bohr, and many
others, current scientific theory holds that all particles also have a wave
nature (and vice versa).
 This phenomenon has been verified not only for elementary particles, but
also for compound particles like atoms and even molecules.
 Interference and diffraction show us that light is a wave.
 Compton and photoelectric effect shows that light is a particle.

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Photo electric effect

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 If you shine light on a metal of any intensity with energy below the
binding energy of an electron, no electrons from the metal will be
ejected. As soon as the frequency of light is high enough such that
the energy exceeds the binding energy, the electron from the metal
can be knocked off the metal.
 If the energy of the photon that hits the metal is hν, then energy
will be conserved in the collision so that
 hν= BE + KE electron

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 The energy before the collision is hν. The minimum amount of
energy needed to eject the electron is the binding energy, BE.
However much hν exceeds the binding energy will be the kinetic
energy KE of the ejected electron.
 Conservation of energy in collisions is particle like behavior and
thus the photoelectric effect supports light's particle like
behavior.

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 Compton effect
Compton observed the scattering of X-rays from
electrons in a carbon target and found that the
scattered X-rays had a longer wavelength than
those incident upon the target. The shift of the
wavelength increased with scattering angle.

Compton explained and modeled the data by

assuming a particle (photon) nature for light and
applying conservation of energy and conservation
of momentum to the collision between the photon
and the electron. The scattered photon has lower
energy and therefore a longer wavelength

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 Wave-Particle Duality
In 1924, de Broglie (1892-1987) assumed that all moving
objects have wave-like properties. He combined Planck's
constant and linear momentum.
We can state that energy E of a photon of frequency v in
E = hv
Where v is v = c / λ.
E = hv = hc/λ

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So,
λ = hc / E (1)
And
p = E/c = mv

(p is the momentum of the object, m is the object's mass, and v is the
velocity of the object)
So,
E = mvc
Plug this into (1), we have

λ = h c /mv c
λ = h/mv

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o This equation propose that all moving object with a mass will have a
wavelength which is called de Broglie wavelength, but these
wavelengths are only seen with objects that have a very small mass.
Since h is very small (6.626 x 10-34Js), any object that has a large mass
will have its wavelength close to zero. That is why we cannot see a
walking human's wavelength.

o This relationship was confirmed by the Davisson and Germer

diffraction experiments, where the wavelengths of the electrons, that
gave diffraction patterns were same as the predicted wavelength using
de Broglie relationship.

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Double Slit Experiment:
In 1925 Davisson and Germer performed double slit
experiment, in which when they aimed a beam of electrons at
nickel, and the diffraction of the electrons produced fringes.
Fringes are properties of waves, and the diffraction is explained
using the interference properties of waves. The dark fringes are
produced when the waves are in phase, and light fringes are
produced when the waves are out of phase.

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Thank You

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