Lesson 33: Photoelectric Effect

Hertz Experiment
Heinrich Hertz was doing experiments in 1887 to test some of Maxwell's theories of EMR. One of the experiments involved sing a coil of wire as a receiver to detect EMR prod ced !" a separate device. #his was ver" m ch li$e Maxwell's own experiments with low fre% enc" &' radiation. Hertz was having pro!lems seeing the spar$ that was made !" the coil( so he placed the whole thing inside a dar$ !ox and loo$ed thro gh a glass window. ) nn" thing was( the spar$s seemed shorter now. He co ld see them in the dar$( ! t the" * st weren't as !ig an"more. Hertz noticed that when he changed the glass window to one made o t of % artz( the spar$s got !igger. #he !ig difference is that the glass !loc$s +,( ! t the % artz does not. -n the end( Hertz concl ded that if random +, radiation in the room was a!le to go into the !ox .it co ld onl" do that if glass did not !loc$ it/ it wo ld hit the coil and help electrons pop off ma$ing !igger spar$s. Hertz did not tr" to fig re o t wh" this was happening.

Einstein's Explanation
Threshold Frequency
Einstein fig red o t that it was the fre% enc" of the light hitting the metal that was important. 0hen the +, light hit the metal of the coil( it had eno gh energ" to $noc$ off electrons. #his was happening !eca se the individ al photons of +, had eno gh energ" according to the form la E 1 hf. -f the metal is exposed to radiation with a fre% enc" less than +,( nothing happened. 2ince the fre% enc" of the light is so low( each photon does not have eno gh energ" to $noc$ off the electrons. #his critical minim m fre% enc" that is needed to start $noc$ing off the electrons was named the threshold frequency. #he special s"m!ol sed for it in form las is fo .

Work Function
Einstein !elieved that to give a single electron the energ" to move( the metal was hit !" a single photon .destro"ing itself/( and transferred its energ" to the one electron. 2ince the electron is originall" attached to the metal( some minim m amo nt of energ" m st !e needed * st to snap it off. Otherwise( electrons wo ld * st !e dropping off of atoms all the time. Einstein called this the work function of the metal( since "o needed to do wor$ on the electron to !rea$ it off. Ever" metal has its own wor$ f nction( since different metals hold on to their electrons with different strengths. 3opping the electrons off starts to happen at a minim m threshold fre% enc"( so that m st correspond to the wor$ f nction. #he form la for this is a modification of 3lanc$'s form la. 1145645715 8 st d"ph"sics.ca 3age 1 of 9 4 2ection 16.5

E = hf W =h f o 0 1 wor$ f nction .:/ h 1 3lanc$'s 'onstant fo 1 threshold fre% enc" .Hz/ Warning!
Ok, sure, this formula is almost exactly the same as Planck's. The difference here is what we're talking about. Planck's formula is about any photon of EM . The formula for work function is all about minimum energy needed to knock electrons off a metal. !ou must use the work function formula when calculating things concerning electrons being knocked off to show that you understand we are not "ust talking about the photons themsel#es.

: st li$e 3lanc$'s form la( "o can se the val e for 3lanc$'s constant in electron volts and get "o r final answer in electron volts. -n fact( it is ver" common to give the val e for the wor$ f nction in electron volts. ;o co ld also se a maxim m threshold wavelength instead of the minim m threshold frequency.

Example 1< Determine the threshold fre% enc" of a material with a wor$ f nction of 17e,. 2ince the val e for the wor$ f nction is given in electron volts( we might as well se the val e for 3lanc$=s constant that is in e,>s. W =hf o W f o= h 17 f o= 6.16e?19 f o=5.6196@e19 =5.6e19 Hz Example 2< Determine the wor$ f nction of a metal in :o les if the maxim m threshold wavelength is 1.17e?7 m. W =hf o Remember that c = f B so we can change hc W= the formula just like we did for Planck's o formula. @.@Ae?A6 (A.77e8 ) W= 1.17e?7 W = 1.87818e?18= 1.81e?18 J

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Millikan's Measurements of the Photoelectric Effect

Ro!ert Milli$an set p an experiment sing the following apparat s. & UV light source was aimed at a piece of zinc inside a vacuum tu e. 0ith the UV source t rned on a c rrent was shown on the ammeter. How co ld a c rrent flow when there is a h ge gap !etween the wires in the tu eC -t was reasoned that when the UV light hit the zinc plate( the photons of UV $noc$ed electrons off the zinc. #hese electrons fl" across the tu e and hit the metal plate. #he res lt is a negative charge on the metal plate .it's gaining electrons/ and a positive charge on the zinc plate .it lost the Illustration 1 !hotoelectric Effect apparatus electrons/. ' rrent flows in the wire( as the electrons move from the metal plate !ac$ to the zinc plate.

Stopping Voltage
#o f rther test these ideas we can t rn on the varia!le voltage so rce. Dotice that the varia!le voltage so rce is set p so that the metal plate will !e negative and the zinc plate !ecomes positive. #his voltage sho ld wor$ against the electrons getting all the wa" from the zinc plate to the metal plate. Onl" electrons with eno gh $inetic energ" .going fast eno gh/ will !e a!le to get to the metal plate. &n" electrons that have too little energ" will * st get p shed !ac$ !" the negativel" charged metal plate and stic$ !ac$ onto the zinc plate. #he voltage was slowl" increased from zero( and for a while nothing appeared to !e changing. E t( there came a point when the voltage !ecame too great for even the fastest moving electrons to get across the gap. &t this point .and for an" higher voltages/ the ammeter gives a reading of zero. #his is the stopping voltage( the voltage that is eno gh to get rid of all the $inetic energ" the electrons had tr"ing to get across the t !e. 0e can come p with a form la for this !" relating it to the ideas we have from Fesson 1A on voltage. E V= q E=q V E k max= q V stop E$ max 1 the $inetic energ" of the fastest moving electrons .:/ % 1 charge of an electron .'/ ,stop 1 the voltage needed to stop the electrons .,/

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Example !< Determine the maxim m $inetic energ" of electrons emitted from a zinc s rface if the" are stopped !" a 1@ D4' niform electric field over a distance of A.7cm. )irst calc late the voltage. V E= " V =E " V = 1@ 7.7A7 V =7.68 V #hen fig re o t the maxim m $inetic energ" of the fastest moving electrons. Ek max =q V stop Ek max =1.@7e?1G ( 7.68) Ek max =7.@8e?57 =7.7e?57 J

Photoelectric Effect Formula (the Biggy!)

-f the fre% enc" of the incoming light is great eno gh( there sho ld !e eno gh energ" to !rea$ off the electron an" have some left over to give it some $inetic energ". 2oH hf = E k max W
Input Energy This is the energy of the incoming photon. Maximum Kinetic Energy This is the part of the energy that allows the electron to move. Work Function This is the energy that is needed to snap off the electron. Note some electrons will need more than the bare minimum ! to be released "they might be attracted more strongly# so their $k is not as great as the ma%imum. That&s ok though since we&ll only worry about the electrons that came off the easiest and have the ma%imum kinetic energy.

#his is reall" a form la that shows conservation of energ". #he original input energy is from the incoming photon. 2ome of this energ" is sed to * st snap off the electron from the metal. #his is the work function. &n" left over energ" !ecomes kinetic energy sed !" the electron to go zipping across the t !e.

#his form la is ! ilt from separate form las on "o r data sheet. )rom the wa" that we've seen that each of those individ al parts can !e changed aro nd( we can ad* st this !asic form la to fit a partic lar pro!lem as necessar".

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Example "< #he threshold fre% enc" of silver is 1.16e19 Hz. EMR with a wavelength of 5.97e?7 m stri$es a piece of p re silver. Determine the speed of the electrons that are emitted. )irst we'll fig re o t how m ch $inetic energ" the electrons are getting. 0e will have to s !stit te form las into the one we've ! ilt so far. hf = E k max + W hc = E k max + hf o hc Ek max = hf o @.@Ae?A6 ( A.77e8 ) Ek max = @.@Ae?A6 ( 1.16e19 ) 5.97e?7 E k max= A.G78e?57= A.G8e?57 J Dow fig re o t the velocit" of the electron. 1 5 Ek max = mv 5 5 Ek max v= m 5 ( A.G8e?57 ) v= G.11e?A1 v =5G9951=5.G@e9 m / s

Home ork
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