PHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT
PHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT
The first discovery of this phenomenon was made by Hertz who was also the
first to produce electromagnetic waves predicted by Maxwell.
DEFINITION:
“The process of emission of electron from the metal surface, when a
light of suitable frequency falls on it, is called Photoelectric effect”.
EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS:
An evacuated glass tube contain a metal plate C,
connected to the negative terminal of battery.
Another metal plate A, is maintained at positive
potential by the battery.
When the tube is kept in dark, the
galvanometer G reads zero, indicating that
there is no current in the circuit.
However, when monochromatic light of the
appropriate wavelength shine on plate C, a
current is detected by the galvanometer,
indicating a flow of charges across the gap
between C and A.
The current associated with this process arises from
electrons emitted from cathode and collected at the
anode.
A plot of photoelectric current versus the
potential difference V between A and C
for three different light intensities is
shown in the given figure:
For large values of V, the current
reaches a maximum value,
corresponding to the case where all
photoelectrons are collected at A.
The current increases as the incident light intensity
increases.
The maximum energy of photoelectrons can be
determined by reversing the connection of battery in
the circuit i.e Anode A is negative and cathode C is at
positive potential.
In this condition, photoelectrons are repelled
by Anode and the photoelectric current
decreases.
If the potential is made more and more
negative, at a certain value, called stopping
potential , the current becomes zero.
The maximum energy of photoelectrons can
be determined by:
= e
The stopping potential is independent of the intensity of the radiation.
Effect of Intensity of incident radiation on photoelectric current
Keeping the frequency of the incident radiation and potential difference
between the cathode and anode at constant values, the intensity of incident
radiation is varied.
It is found that photoelectric current increases linearly with the intensity of
incident radiation.
The number of photoelectrons emitted per second is proportional to the
intensity of incident radiation.
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS:
This experiment yields the following interesting results:
If intensity of light increases then
photoelectric current also increases.
Maximum kinetic energy is
independent of the intensity of light.
Maximum kinetic energy of emitted electrons depends on the
frequency of the incident radiation.
For a given metal, there is a threshold frequency . If the frequency of
incident light is below the threshold frequency, no electrons are emitted
no matter what the intensity of incident light is.
Electrons are emitted from the surface almost instantaneously even at low
light intensities.
CLASSICAL CONCEPTS:
ABOUT INTENSITY:
Classically more intense light has larger amplitude and thus delivers more energy.
Intense light should not only enable a large number of electrons to escape from the
metal but it should also enable the electrons emitted to have more Kinetic energy.
ABOUT FREQUENCY:
Classically there is no explanation for frequency dependence of photoelectrons
K.E and threshold frequency.
Classically one would expect that the electrons would require some time to
absorb the incident radiation before they acquire enough K.E to escape from the
metal.
PHOTON THEORY OF PHOTO ELECTRIC EFFECT:
A successful explanation of the photoelectric effect was given by Einstein in
1905, the same year he published his special theory of relativity.
ASSUMPTIONS:
Light of frequency f can be considered to be a stream of photons. Each
photon has an energy E is given by:
E =hf
Einstein considered light to be much like a stream of particles travelling
through space rather than wave.
Each particle (Photon) could be absorbed as a unit by an electron.
When the photon’s energy is transferred to electrons in a metal, the
energy acquired by the electron must be hf.
The amount of energy required to escape the electron from metal
surface is known as Work function of the substance(Φ).
EINSTEIN’S EXPLANATION ON THE BASIS OF QUANTUM THEORY:
In order to conserve energy, the maximum kinetic energy of ejected
photoelectrons is the difference between photon energy and work function
of the metal.
= hf - Φ
When K.E of photoelectron is zero, the frequency f is equal to threshold
frequency , hence the equation becomes,
=h-Φ
Φ= h
Hence we can also write photoelectric equation as
= hf - h
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