Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Kolkata Semester – III, Nov.

2008

Physics Project Report

Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Kolkata

Semester-III, Nov. 2008

Title:- To verify that the energy of the emitted photoelectrons

electrons
is independent of the intensity of the light used in the
photoelectric effect.

By:-
Jyothi V. Nair (07MS
07MS-72)
Satish Kumar (07MS
(07MS-75)
Harsh Purwar (07MS
07MS-76)

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Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Kolkata Semester – III, Nov. 2008

Contents
Abstract 03

Keywords 03

Aim of the Experiment 03

Theory 03

Experimental Setup 04

Procedure 04

Observations 05

Graph 05

Inference 05

Sources of Error 06

A Future Extension 06

References 06

Acknowledgement 06

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Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Kolkata Semester – III, Nov. 2008

Abstract:
In this experiment that is to verify that the energy of the emitted photoelectron
photoelectrons does not
depend on the intensity of the light used for the same; intensity of a green LASER torch was
varied by changing the angle between the polarizing axis of two polarizer’s and
and stopping
potential of a photocell was measured for different intensities using a voltmeter.

Keywords:
Photoelectric effect, photoelectrons,
oelectrons, stopping potential.

Aim:
To verify that the energy of the emitt
emitted
ed photoelectrons or the stopping potential of a
photocell is independent of the intensity of the light used.

Theory:
The phenomenon of emission of electrons from a metal surface when it is irradiated by the
light of suitable frequency is called photoelectric
photoelec effect. The emitted electrons are termed
as the photoelectrons. This effect was discovered by Heinrich Rudolf Hertz in 1887.
1887 The
effect was later explained by Albert Einstein in 1905 which fetched him a noble.

Figure 1

Suppose a photon of light with frequency  hits a polished metal surface with work function

and an electron of kinetic energy  is emitted (Figure 1).. Now according to the
conservation of energy this emitted electron gains energy from the incident photon. So we
can say that:
  



where  is the Planck’s constant  6.626  10  and
is the work function
of the metal (here Potassium (K)) and can be considered as the energy expended to
separate the electron from the metal. This varies from metal to metal and nd keep
keeps on
increasing as the electrons are emitted from the metal surface. This is because as the
electrons are emitted from the metal surface it keeps on acquiring a positive charge which
oppose further emission of electrons from the
the metal surface. This after some time stops the
photoelectric effect completely. And the potential of the cathode or metal surface from
which the electrons are emitted once the emission has stopped is called stopping
potential. In other words we can also say that it is the potential that has to be given to

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Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Kolkata Semester – III, Nov. 2008

the photocell so that no electrons are emitted (considering that the incident frequency is
more than the threshold frequency .
   
    



If the electron with the highest kinetic energy is also not allowed to leave the cathode then
the photoelectric effect will stop i.e. we have
       


where  is the electronic charge  1.6  10  !".

Laws of Photoelectric effect:

• Emission of photoelectron will only take place after a threshold frequency. There is
no such threshold on the intensity of the light.
• The photocurrent depends only on the intensity of the light & not on the frequency.

Intensity can be considered as a measure of the number of photons incident per unit time
per unit area. So on changing the intensity of the incident light changes the number of
incident photons per unit time which changes the number of emitted photoelectrons per
unit time which is the nothing just the photocurrent.

Figure 2

The photocurrent charges the capacitor and then the voltmeter connected to it in parallel
measures the potential difference. This potential difference is same as the stopping
potential because the capacitor stops charging once the photoelectric effect is stopped.

Experimental Setup:
• A LASER, polarizer, analyser and photo-detector are all mounted on an optical bench
in a dark room.
• A computer is also required to measure the intensity of the light.
• Photocell is then placed facing the LASER and the light beam is adjusted properly.
• A digital voltmeter is also required to measure the stopping potential.

Procedure:
• An arbitrary value of intensity (let I0) was set as 100% and then all the other values of
the intensity are with respect to this intensity.
• Then the light intensity was varied by rotating the analyzer by different angles.

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Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Kolkata Semester – III, Nov. 2008

• Note down the corresponding values of stopping potential as measured by the

voltmeter connected in parallel to a capacitor being charged by the photocurrent.

Observations:

Table 1: For green LASER.

Observation No. Intensity (arbitrary units) Stopping potential (V)
1 12 0.4247
2 10 0.4120
3 8 0.3997
4 6 0.4015
5 4 0.4236
6 2 0.4190
Mean 0.4134

Graph:

&  '. ()*()+

Inference:
From the above graph it is very clear that the stopping potential remains unchanged on
varying the intensity of the light. For green color the stopping potential for the given
photocell was found to be 0.413  %.

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Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Kolkata Semester – III, Nov. 2008

Sources of Error:
• As the experiment was a combination of two different experiments so fixing the
apparatus properly was a problem. The two polarizer’s were not fixed tightly on the
optical bench and for measuring the intensity the photo-detector has to be placed
and removed after each reading, which is the main cause for the deviation of the
stopping potential values from the mean value.

A Future Extension:
• To verify that the photocurrent decreases with the decrease in the intensity of the
light used for the photoelectric effect.
• To verify that the photocurrent remains unchanged on changing only the frequency
of the light source used for the photoelectric effect.
• To find out the efficiency of photoelectron emission of a photocell.

We also planned to observe the intensity and current correlation using same apparatus but
the reason because we couldn’t do it is as following:
Q  CV

1
Q  Ne

2)
Now we have,
eV = h ν − W
hν − W
⇒V=
e
Substituting V in (1) we get,
C(hν − W)
Q=
e
Thus we have,
C(hν − W)
N=
e5
Ultimately we land up with current dependence on frequency not on intensity. To observe
current dependence on intensity either we need to do some modification in apparatus or
we need to measure the time of charging of capacitor.

References:
• Google image search: http://images.google.co.in/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi
• Quantum Physics – By Stephen Gasiorowicz (3rd edition-2005)
• http://www.wikipedia.org

Acknowledgements:
We would like to sincerely thank Dr. Bipul Pal for the efforts he made in setting up the
experimental apparatus, getting his personal LASER torch and helping us to sort out our
various silly project ideas. We would also like to thank Dr. Swapan Kumar Datta for drawing
some of his precious time for our discussions.
We would also like to thank Mr. Anandomohan Shah for helping us in setting up the
apparatus in the dark room.