Photo effect questions :

1. Who got the Nobel Prize for Photo effect?

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1921 was awarded to Albert Einstein "for his services to Theoretical
Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect."

2. Who was the first to observe the photo effect?

The photoelectric effect was discovered in 1887 by the German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz.
In connection with work on radio waves, Hertz observed that, when ultraviolet light shines on
two metal electrodes with a voltage applied across them, the light changes the voltage at which
sparking takes place.
3. What was Lenard’s contribution to understanding the photo effect?
The relation between light and electricity (hence photoelectric) was clarified in 1902 by the
German physicist, Philipp Lenard. He demonstrated that electrically charged particles are
liberated from a metal surface when it is illuminated and that these particles are identical to
electrons.
4. What was the Einstein contribution to understanding this effect?
Albert Einstein formulate in 1905 a new corpuscular theory of light in which each particle of
light, or photon, contains a fixed amount of energy, or quantum, that depends on the light’s
frequency. He assumed that a photon would penetrate the material and transfer its energy to
an electron. As the electron moved through the metal at high speed and finally emerged from
the material, its kinetic energy would diminish by an amount ϕ called the work function, which
represents the energy required for the electron to escape the metal.
5. Explain briefly the photo effect?
Photoelectric effect, phenomenon in which electrically charged particles are released from or
within a material when it absorbs electromagnetic radiation. The effect is often defined as the
ejection of electrons from a metal plate when light falls on it.
6. What is work function?
The minimum energy required to eject an electron from the surface is called the photoelectric
work function
 7. What is stopping voltage?
The stopping voltage is defined as the potential necessary to stop any electron (or, in other
words, to stop even the electron with the most kinetic energy) from reaching the other side.
8. Does light intensity affect the stopping voltage and why?
Stopping voltage is independent because there is no link in kinetic energy between the number
of electrons emitted from the metal surface and number of photons falling into it. Also intensity
has no relation to kinetic energy. Intensity deals with umber of photons attacking number of
electrons.
9. What really affect the stopping voltage?
Stopping potential means voltage needed to stop highest kinetic energy electron. As intensity is
proportional to number of photons, but it doesn't change the maximum kinetic energy. So
stopping potential doesn't depend on intensity. Yes but in case of frequency, frequency is
proportional to energy. So stopping potential depends on Frequency.
10. Briefly explain what is the electronic structure of materials?
Electronic structure is the state of motion of electrons in an electrostatic field created by
stationary nuclei. The term encompass both the wave functions of the electrons and the
energies associated with them. Electronic structure is obtained by solving quantum mechanical
equations for the aforementioned clamped-nuclei problem
11. Explain why classical electromagnetism predicted that light intensity would affect the
stopping voltage?
In classical electromagnetism theory; the greater the amplitude of the wave then the greater
the energy and intensity of the wave. Therefore, electrons should be ejected with more kinetic
energy as the light intensity increases.
12. Explain how light intensity affects the saturation current?
The saturation current increases with the increase of the light intensity. It also increases with
greater frequencies due to a greater probability of electron emission when collisions happen
with higher energy photons.
13. What is the saturation current?
Saturation current means flow of electron in a given time is constant i.e. number of electrons
ejected from Cathode is constant as number incident photons are constant.
14. Does wavelengths affects the saturation current?
The energy of each electron coming out of the metal will be more now (K.E), but the number of
electrons leaving the metal will NOT change. As one quantum (or packet) of light will interact (or
provide energy) to ONE electron only. So NO change in number of packets, hence NO change in
number of electrons. Therefore, saturation current will depend only upon the intensity of light.
However, increasing the frequency will slightly increase the probability of the electron to reach
the other side. But the effect can be neglected.
15. Briefly explain how the experiment work?
If a beam of light is pointed at the negative end of a pair of charged plates enclosed in a
vacuum, a current flow is measured. Thus, the beam of light must be liberating electrons from
one metal plate, which are attracted to the other plate by electrostatic forces, crossing the gap
and completing the circuit. This results in a current flow.
16. What is the source of light?
The mercury lamp
17. There are two constants that you can measure, what are they?
Planck’s constant and the work function of the metal
18. What is the relation between the light intensity and the saturation current?
If we increase the intensity of light, the 'saturation current' increases because number of
photons incident per unit time increases.

19. What is the energy of the photon?

Photon energy is the energy carried by a single photon. The amount of energy is directly
proportional to the photon's electromagnetic frequency and inversely proportional to the
wavelength. The higher the photon's frequency, the higher its energy. Equivalently, the longer
the photon's wavelength, the lower its energy.
20. Why are you using current amplifier?
A current amplifier circuit is a circuit which amplifies the input current by a fixed factor and
feeds it to the succeeding circuit. A current amplifier is somewhat similar to a voltage buffer but
the difference is that an ideal voltage buffer will try to deliver whatever current required by the
load while keeping the input and output voltages same, where a current amplifier supplies the
succeeding stage with a current that is a fixed multiple of the input current.