Expt-6 Jamia Millia Islamia

Franck and Hertz Experiment

Vinay Kumar

December 5, 2020

Aim
To experimentally demonstrate the concept of quantization of energy levels according to Bohr's model of atom using
Franck-Hertz Experiment.

Apparatus
ˆ Mercury lled Triode
ˆ Voltage Control Box
ˆ Electron Emitting Cathode
ˆ Mesh Grid Plate
ˆ Anode
ˆ Ammeter

Theory
ˆ The Franck-Hertz experiment provided one of the early indications that atoms had discrete energy levels. In
this experiment, electrons are accelerated and made to pass through mercury vapor, where they lose energy
by inelastic scattering in quantized steps as they excite mercury atoms from the ground state to an excited
state. This elegant experiment yielded remarkable results that were key in the early developments of quantum
theory.
ˆ When an electron collides with a mercury atom, it may lose energy only in integral multiples of a certain
critical value. This is only possible in the case of discrete values of energy. If an electron does not have energy
greater than the critical value, it undergoes purely elastic collisions with mercury atoms and does not undergo
a change in its energy.
ˆ The critical value of energy, which is also the rst excitation energy, can be found out using the relation
E1 = e ngn , where, Vgn represents the grid voltage corresponding to nth peak and e is the electronic charge.
V
Expt-6 Jamia Millia Islamia

Schematic Diagram

Experimental Setup

Observations and Graphs

ˆ Least Count of Voltmeter = 0.1 V
ˆ Least Count of Ammeter = 0.1 mA
ˆ Filament Voltage, Vf = 10 V

Table 1: Grid Voltages vs Anode Currents

Expt-6 Jamia Millia Islamia

Graph 1: Grid Voltages vs Anode Currents

Calculation
1. For rst peak, n = 1 and Vgn = 4.9 V . This gives E1 = 4.9 eV .
2. For rst peak, n = 2 and Vgn = 9.5 V . This gives E1 = 4.75 eV .
Taking mean of the above values, we get E1 = 4.825 eV .

Result
Franck-Hertz experiment was performed and quantization of energy levels was observed. The First Excitation
Energy, E1 was found to be 4.825 eV . The accepted value for the same is 4.9 eV . This gives an error percentage of
1.5% which is well within limits of experimental errors.

References
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franck%E2%80%93Hertz_experiment#:~:text=The%20Franck%E2%80%
93Hertz%20experiment%20was,James%20Franck%20and%20Gustav%20Hertz.
[2] https://vlab.amrita.edu/?sub=1&brch=195&sim=355&cnt=2
[3] http://instructor.physics.lsa.umich.edu/adv-labs/Franck_Hertz/franck-hertz.pdf