Important Questions-Dual Nature of Radiation and Matter

1 An electron and alpha particle have the same de-Broglie wavelength associated with them. How are
their kinetic energies related to each other? (Delhi 2008)

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2 Two lines, A and B, in the plot given below show the variation of de-Broglie wavelength, λ versus ,
√𝑉
Where V is the accelerating potential difference, for two particles carrying the same charge. Which
one of two represents a particle of smaller mass ? (All India 2008)

3 The figure shows a plot of three curves a, b, c, showing the variation of photocurrent vs. collector
plate potential for three different intensities I1, I2 and I3 having frequencies V1, v2 and v3 respectively
incident on a photosensitive surface.

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 Point out the two curves for which the incident radiations have same frequency but different
intensities.
Answer:
Stopping potential will be same for the same frequency. So its curves ‘a’ and ‘b’ which have same
frequency but different intensities. (I2 > I3)
4 Show graphically, the variation of the de- Broglie wavelength (λ) with the potential (V) through which
an electron is accelerated from rest.
Answer:

5 A proton and an electron have same kinetic energy. Which one has greater de-Broglie wavelength
and why? (All India 2011)
Answer:

6 The given graph shows the variation of photo-electric current (I) versus applied voltage (V) for two
different photosensitive materials and for two different intensities of the incident radiation. Identify the
pairs of curves that correspond to different materials but same intensity of incident radiation. (Delhi
2013)

Answer:
The pairs (2, 4) and (1, 3) have same intensity but different material.
7 An electron is accelerated through a potential difference of 100 volts. What is the de-Broglie
wavelength associated with it? To which part of the electromagnetic spectrum does this value of
wavelength correspond? (Delhi 2010)
Answer:
Given : V = 100 V
According to de-Broglie ivavelength

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 The value of de-Broglie wavelength is 0.123 nm which corresponds to the wavelength of X-rays
region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
8 An a-particle and a proton are accelerated from rest by the same potential. Find the ratio of their de-
Broglie wavelengths. (All India 2010)
Answer:
de-Broglie wavelength of a charged (q)
Particle accelerated through a potential ‘V’ is

9 Write Einstein’s photoelectric equation. State clearly the three salient features observed in
photoelectric effect, which can be explained on the basis of the above equation. (All India 2010)
Answer:
Einstein’s photoelectric equation is Kmax = hv – ϕ0
(i) We find Kmax depends linearly on V only. It is independent of intensity of radiation.

(iii) Greater the number of energy quanta, greater is the number of photoelectrons. So, photoelectric
current is proportional to intensity.
10 A proton and a deuteron are accelerated through the same accelerating potential. Which one of the
two has
(a) greater value of de-Broglie wavelength associated with it, and
(b) less momentum?
Give reasons to justify your answer. (Delhi 2010)
Answer:
For proton and deuteron, charge (q) is the same, while the mass of deuteron is more than that of
proton

Here q and V are the same for both,

∴ Proton will be associated with greater value of de-Broglie wavelength.

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11 i) Monochromatic light of frequency 6.0 × 1014 Hz is produced by a laser. The power emitted is 2.0 ×
10-3 W. Estimate the number of photons emitted per second on an average by the source.
(ii) Draw a plot showing the variation of photoelectric current versus the intensity of incident radiation
on a given photosensitive surface. (Delhi 2010)
Answer:

(ii)

12 A proton and an a-particle have the same de- roglie wavelength. Determine the ratio of
(i) their accelerating potentials
(ii) their speeds. (Delhi 2015)
Answer:
The de-Broglie wavelength for a proton is,

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13 Using the graph shown in the figure for stopping potential v/s the incident frequency of photons,
calculate Planck’s constant. (Comptt. Delhi 2015)

Answer:

14 Plot a graph showing variation of de-Broglie wavelength λ versus 1V√, where V is accelerating
potential for two particles A and B carrying same charge but of masses m1, m2 (m1 > m2). Which one
of the two represents a particle of smaller mass and why?
Answer:

Hence, particle with lower mass (m2) will have greater slope and is represented by the graph ‘B’.
15 Derive the Bohr’s quantisation condition for angular momentum of the orbitting of electron in
hydrogen atom, using de Broglie’s hypothesis. (Comptt. All India 2015)
Answer:

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16 State two properties of photons. For a monochromatic radiation incident on a photosensitive surface,
why do all photoelectrons not come out with the same energy? Give reason for your answer.
(Comptt. All India 2017)
Answer:

• Two properties of photons :

• photon is electrically neutral.
• photon has an energy equal to hv
For a monochromatic radiation incident on a photosensitive surface, all photoelectrons do not
come out with the same energy, because in addition to the work done to free electrons from the
surface, different (emitted) photoelectrons need different amount of work to be done on them to
reach the surface.

17 The Kinetic Energy (K.E.), of a beam of electrons, accelerated through a potential V, equals the
energy of a photon of wavelength 5460 nm. Find the de Broglie wavelength associated with this
beam of electrons. (Comptt. All India 2015)
Answer:

18 The maximum kinetic energy of the photoelectrons gets doubled when the wavelength of light
incident on the surface changes from λ1 to λ2. Derive the expressions for the threshold wavelength
λ0 and work function for the metal surface. (Delhi 2014)

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19 The photon emitted during the de-excitation from the 1st excited level to the ground state of hydrogen
atom is used to irradiate a photo cathode of a photocell, in which stopping potential of 5 V is used.
Calculate the work function of the cathode used. (Comptt. All India 2017)
Answer:

20 An electron microscope uses electrons accelerated by a potential difference 50 kV. Calculate the de
Broglie wavelength of the electrons. Compare the resolving power of an electron microscope with
that of an optical microscope, which uses visible light of wavelength 550 nm. Assume the numerical
aperture of the objective lens of both microscopes are the same. (Comptt. All India 2017)
Answer:

21 Light of frequency ν is incident on a photosensitive surface. A graph of the square of the maximum
speed of the electrons (𝑣 2max) vs. ν is obtained as shown in the figure. Using Einstein ‘photoelectric
equation, obtain expressions for (i) Planck’s constant. (ii) Work function of the given photosensitive
material in terms of parameters l, n and mass of the electron m.

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22 T he following graph shows the variation of photocurrent for a photosensitive metal :

(i) Identify the variable X on the horizontal axis.

(ii) What does the point A on the horizontal axis represent?
(iii) Draw this graph for three different values of frequencies of incident radiation ν1, ν2 and ν3 (ν1> ν2
> ν3) for same intensity.
(iv) Draw this graph for three different values of intensities of incident radiation I1, I2 and I3 (I1 >I2 >
I3) having same frequency
Ans. (i) X is collector plate potential.
(ii) A is stopping potential.
(iii) Graph for different frequencies : (iv) Graph for three different intensities :

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23 The work function of the following metals is given : Na = 2.75 eV, K = 2.3 eV, Mo = 4.17 eV
and Ni = 5.15 eV. Which of this metal will not cause photoelectric emission for radiation of
wavelength 3300 Å from a laser source placed 1 m away from these metals? What happens if the laser
source is brought nearer and placed 25cm away.

The work function of Mo and Ni is more than the energy of the incident photons, so photoelectric
emission will not take place from these metals. Kinetic energy of photoelectrons will not change, only
photoelectric current will change
24 In the study of a photoelectric effect the graph between the stopping potential V and frequency
of the incident radiation on two different metals P and Q is shown below.

(i) Which one of the two metals has higher threshold frequency ?
(ii) Determine the work function of the metal which has greater value.
(iii) Find the maximum kinetic energy of electron emitted by light of frequency 8 × 1014 Hz for this
metal
(i) Q has higher threshold frequency
(ii) Work function

= (3.3 – 2.47) eV = 0.83 eV

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25 Radiation of frequency 10 Hz is incident on two photosensitive surfaces P and Q. There is no
photoemission from surface P. Photoemission occurs from surface Q but photoelectrons have
zero kinetic energy. Explain these observations and find the value of work function for surface Q.
Ans.
(i) Maximum kinetic (Kmax), of emitted electrons, depends linearly on frequency of incident
radiations
(K.E.)max = hν – hν0
Existence of threshold frequency for the metal surface ν0.
(ii) Since no photoelectric emission takes place from P it means frequency of incident radiation (1015
Hz) is less than its threshold frequency (no) Photo emission takes place from Q but kinetic energy of
photoelectrons is zero. This implies that frequency of incident radiation is just equal to the
threshold frequency of Q.

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26 A photon and a proton have the same de-Broglie wavelength. Show, by actual calculations, which
has more total energy. (Comptt. All India 2017)
Answer:

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28 (i) Define the term ‘intensity’ of radiation in photon picture.

(ii) Plot a graph showing the variation of photo current Vs. collector potential for three different
intensities I1, I2 and I3 (I1 > I2 > I3), two of which (I1 and I2) have the same frequency ν and third
has frequency ν1 > ν.

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 (iii) Explain the nature of the curves on the basis of Einstein’ s equation.
Ans
(i) The amount of light energy / number of photons, incident per metre square per second is called
intensity of radiation

(iii) As per Einstein’s equation The stopping potential is same for I1 and I2 as they have same
frequency. The saturation currents are as shown, because I1 > I2 > I3
Define the term “cut off frequency” in photoelectric emission. The threshold frequency of a metal is f.
When the light of frequency 2f is incident on the metal plate, the maximum velocity of photoelectrons
is v1. When the frequency of the incident radiation is increased to 5f, the maximum velocity of photo-
electrons is v2. Find the ratio v1 : v2.
Cut off frequency : It is that minimum frequency of incident radiation below which no photoemission
takes place from a photo electric material.

29 The data given below gives the photon energy (in eV) for a number of waves whose wavelength
values (in nm) are also given. (Without doing any calculation/taking any
reading), explain how one can use this data to draw an appropriate graph to infer
(i) photon energy corresponding to a wavelength of 100 nm.
(ii) the wavelength value (in nm) corresponding to a photon energy of 1 eV.
velocity of light, assuming that the value of Planck’s constant is known.

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