PHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT

Photon: A packet or bundle of energy is called a photon. Energy of a photon

ℎ𝑐
is 𝐸 = ℎ𝑓 =
λ

where ℎ is the Planck’s constant, 𝑓 is the frequency of the radiation or

photon, 𝑐 is the speed of light (e.m. wave) and 𝜆 is the wavelength.

Properties of photons:

A photon travels at a speed of light 𝑐 in vacuum(3.0 × 108 𝑚/𝑠)

i) It has zero rest mass. i.e. the photon cannot exist at rest.
ii) Photons travel in a straight line.
iii) Energy of a photon depends upon its frequency and the energy is
quantized.

Photoelectric Effect: The phenomenon of emission of electrons from

mainly metal surfaces exposed to light energy (X – rays, γ – rays, UV rays,
Visible light and even Infra-Red rays) of suitable frequency is known as
photoelectric effect.

 The electrons emitted by this effect are called photoelectrons.

 The current constituted by photoelectrons is known as
photoelectric current.
Experimental Set-up to study Photoelectric Effect:
  When light of suitable frequency falls on the metallic cathode,
photoelectrons are emitted. These photoelectrons are attracted
towards the positive anode and hence photoelectric current is
constituted

Effect of Intensity of Incident Light on Photoelectric Current:

 For a fixed frequency, the photoelectric current increases linearly with

increase in intensity of incident light.

Effect of Potential on Photoelectric Current:

 For a fixed frequency and intensity of incident light, the photoelectric

current increases with increase in positive potential applied to the
 anode. When all the photoelectrons reach the plate A, current becomes
maximum and is known as saturation current.

 When the potential is decreased, the current decreases but does not
become zero at zero potential
 This shows that even in the absence of accelerating potential, a few
photoelectrons manage to reach the plate on their own due to their
K.E.
 When negative potential is applied to the plate A with respect to C,
photoelectric current becomes zero at a particular value of negative
potential called stopping potential or cut-off potential.
 Intensity of incident light does not affect the stopping potential.

3) Effect of Frequency of Incident Light on Photoelectric Current:

For a fixed intensity of incident light, the photoelectric current does not
depend on the frequency of the incident light. Because, the photoelectric
current simply depends on the number of photoelectrons emitted and in turn
on the number of photons incident and not on the energy of photons.

Threshold Frequency:
 The graph of stopping potential and frequency does not pass through
the origin. It shows that there is a minimum value of frequency called
threshold frequency below which photoelectric emission is not possible
however high the intensity of incident light may be. It depends on the
nature of the metal emitting photoelectrons.

Laws of Photoelectric Emission:

iv) For a given substance, there is a minimum value of frequency of

incident light called threshold frequency below which no
photoelectric emission is possible, howsoever, the intensity of
incident light may be.
v) The number of photoelectrons emitted per second (i.e.
photoelectric current) is directly proportional to the intensity of
incident light provided the frequency is above the threshold
frequency.
vi) The maximum kinetic energy of the photoelectrons is directly
proportional to the frequency provided the frequency is above the
threshold frequency.
vii) The maximum kinetic energy of the photoelectrons is independent
of the intensity of the incident light.
viii) The process of photoelectric emission is instantaneous. i.e. as soon
as the photon of suitable frequency falls on the substance, it emits
photoelectrons.
 ix) The photoelectric emission is one-to-one. i.e. for every photon of
suitable frequency one electron is emitted.

Application of Photoelectric Effect:

A thorough understanding of photoelectric effect has helped spawn useful

applications in many areas of Physics, or even create new areas of study. The
most obvious example is probably solar energy, which is produced by
photovoltaic cells. Photovoltaic cells are made of semi-conducting material
which produce electricity when exposed to sunlight. An everyday example is
a solar powered calculator and a more exotic application would be solar power
satellites that orbit around the earth.

Questions

1. A student carries out a photoelectric experiment in which radiation is

incident on a metal surface in a vacuum
a) Explain why photoelectrons are not emitted from the metal surface
unless the frequency of incident light exceeds a minimum value.
b) A graph of the results of the experiment show how the maximum
kinetic energy 𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 of the emitted photoelectrons varies with the
frequency 𝑓 of the incident radiation.
 Use the graph to determine

i. Identify the minimum value of the frequency 𝑓0 for

photoelectrons to be emitted.
ii. Determine the Planks constant
iii. Calculate the work function , in 𝑒𝑉, for the metal surface
c) The student repeats the experiment with a different metal surface that
has a smaller value for the work function. On the graph in b), draw a
line to show how 𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 varies with 𝑓.

2. The graph shows the maximum kinetic energy of electrons ejected

from different metals as a function of the frequency of the incident
light
 What can be deduced from this graph?
A. The maximum kinetic energy of ejected electrons is proportional to
the number of photons incident on the metal surface.
B. More photons are required to cause an electron to be ejected from
zinc that from potassium.
C. Any photon that can eject an electron from the surface of zinc must
also be able to cause an electron to be ejected from potassium.
D. For any given frequency that causes electrons to be ejected from all
three metal, the number of electrons ejected is always greatest for
potassium
3. Light of frequency 𝟒. 𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎𝟏𝟒 𝐇𝐳 and intensity and intensity

𝟏. 𝟒𝐦𝐖𝐦−𝟐 is incident on a pixel for a time of 𝟒𝟐𝐦𝐬. The area of the

pixel is 𝟒. 𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟎 𝐦𝟐 . The quantum efficiency of the pixel is 𝟔𝟎%.

Calculate the number of photons incident on the pixel

𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒆: 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 = 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒑𝒖𝒕/𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝑰𝒏𝒑𝒖𝒕

𝑾
𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚(𝒎𝟐 ) = 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓/𝑨𝒓𝒆𝒂

𝑬𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒏 = 𝒉𝒇