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Experiment 1 Photocell

1) When light shines on a metal surface, photons may eject electrons from the metal. This is called the photoelectric effect. 2) Einstein proposed that light is made of discrete packets of energy called photons. For electrons to be ejected, photons must have an energy greater than the metal's work function. 3) Experiments on the photoelectric effect showed that the maximum kinetic energy of ejected electrons depends on the frequency but not the intensity of light, and a minimum frequency is needed to eject any electrons.

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7K views

Experiment 1 Photocell

1) When light shines on a metal surface, photons may eject electrons from the metal. This is called the photoelectric effect. 2) Einstein proposed that light is made of discrete packets of energy called photons. For electrons to be ejected, photons must have an energy greater than the metal's work function. 3) Experiments on the photoelectric effect showed that the maximum kinetic energy of ejected electrons depends on the frequency but not the intensity of light, and a minimum frequency is needed to eject any electrons.

Uploaded by

albara
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Experiment # 1

Photoelectric Effect
Introduction:
When high energy light particles fall on a solid body, the body absorbs
energy from light particles and its electrons excites and left the surface
of body. This phenomenon is called photoelectric effect.
And electrons emitted are called photo electrons.

Explanation:
Einsteins hypothesis:
Einstein gives theory about the behavior of
light which is as follows:
When a light illuminates a metal plate, photons collide
with electrons in the plate and, depending on the energy needed to eject
the electron from the metal, the electrons are either free or remain stuck
in the metal.

Observations:
The theory of the photoelectric effect must explain the experimental
observations of the emission of electrons from an illuminated metal
surface.

For a given metal, there exists a certain minimum frequency of incident


radiation below which no photoelectrons are emitted. This frequency is
called the threshold frequency.
Above the threshold frequency, the maximum kinetic energy of the
emitted photoelectron depends on the frequency of the incident light, but
is independent of the intensity of the incident light.
For a given metal and frequency of incident radiation, the rate at which
photoelectrons are ejected is directly proportional to the intensity of the
incident light.

Mathematical Explanation:
The maximum kinetic energy

of an ejected electron is given by

Where is the Planck constant and is the frequency of the incident


photon.
The term
=
is the work function , which gives the minimum energy required to
remove a delocalised electron from the surface of the metal.
The maximum kinetic energy of an ejected electron is then

Work function:
The photoelectric effect requires photons with energies from a
few electronvolts to over 1 MeV in high atomic number elements.
The energy needed to rip off an electron is called the work function.
The higher the value of the work function, the more energy (or work)
needed to eject an electron.

Threshold wavelength:
Since the energy of the quanta depends on the wavelength of the light,
there must be some special wavelength that has just enough energy so
that any longer wavelength light cannot kick off an electron, and any
shorter wavelength light has even more energy than needed. This special
wavelength is called the threshold wavelength.

Threshold Frequency:
The minimum frequency required
to emit electron from metal surface is called threshold
frequency.
If threshold frequency for a metal is 400 and
frequency of light is 450 then this light can remove
electron but if the frequency is less than 400 then electron
could not be emitted.

Experimental Section:
Apparatus:

Light source (bulb), photocell, galvanometer, battery ,connecting wires.

Circuit diagram:

Procedure:
First of all, I made connections to the whole apparatus as shown in
circuit diagram.
Turn the circuit switch ON, so that light from bulb fall on photo cell.
As soon as light falls on photo cell, the galvanometer shows deflection.
Note the distance of light source from photo cell on the given scale and
also note the deflection on galvanometer.

Now change the distance between the light source and photo cell to a
small amount of 3 to 4 cm.
The deflection of galvanometer will also change.
Take suitable number of readings to draw the graph between 1/d2 and
no. of deflection.
Draw the graph and then join the points.

Results and Discussion:


Readings:

Serial
number

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Distance of light
source from photo
Cell d (cm)
68
66
64
62
60
58
56
54
52

Deflection of
Galvanometer

16
17
18
19
20
21.5
23
24.1
26

1/d2
(cm-2)
2.1610-4
2.2910-4
2.4410-4
2.6610-4
2.7710-4
2.9710-4
3.1810-4
3.4210-4
3.6910-4

Graph Explanation:
A graph is drawn above by taking 1/d2 values on x-axis and the number
of deflections on y-axis. As shown in graph,a straight line will be shown.
Which will not pass through the origion.
K7

Conclusion:
From this experiment it is concluded that the value of current is directly
proportional to the intensity of light. As the distance between bulb and
photo cell increases galvanometer shows less deflection and if distance
between them is decreased the galvanometer shows more deflection.

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