The Photoelectric Effect What's the photoelectric effect? It's been determined experimentally that when light shines on a metal surface, the surface emits electrons. For example, you can start a current in a circuit just by shining a light on a metal plate. Why do you think this happens? Well...we were saying earlier that light is made up of electromagnetic waves, and that the waves carry energy. So if a wave of light hit an electron in one of the atoms in the metal, it might transfer enough energy to knock the electron out of its atom. Okay. Now, if light is indeed composed of waves, as you suggest... What do you mean, "if light is composed of waves"? Is there another option? Historically, light has sometimes been viewed as a particle rather than a wave; Newton, for example, thought of light this way. The particle view was pretty much discredited with Young's double slit experiment, which made things look as though light had to be a wave. But in the early 20th century, some physicists--Einstein, for one--began to examine the particle view of light again. Einstein noted that careful experiments involving the photoelectric effect could show whether light consists of particles or waves. How? It seems to me that the photoelectric effect would still occur no matter which view is correct. Either way, the light would carry energy, so it would be able to knock electrons around. Yes, you're right--but the details of the photoelectric effect come out differently depending on whether light consists of particles or waves. If it's waves, the energy contained in one of those waves should depend only on its amplitude--that is, on the intensity of the light. Other factors, like the frequency, should make no difference. So, for example, red light and ultraviolet light of the same intensity should knock out the same number of electrons, and the maximum kinetic energy of both sets of electrons should also be the same. Decrease the intensity, and you should get fewer electrons, flying out more slowly; if the light is too faint, you shouldn't get any electrons at all, no matter what frequency you're using. That sounds reasonable enough to me. How would the effect change if you assume that light is made of particles? I should give you some background information on this, first. It all began with some work on radiation by Max Planck...

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