A PROJECT REPORT

On
Photoelectric effect
Miles Bronson Residential School

Borjhar, Guwahati- 781015

AISSCE : 2022- 23
Project prepared under the guidance of
Mr. PRASURJYA PATHAK
Department of PHYSICS
Submitted by:

Name – SAFDAR HAFIZ

Class – XII SCIENCE

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special thanks to my
teacher Mr. Prasurjya Pathak and well known
principal Dr. N.K. Dutta, who gave me the golden
opportunity to do this wonderful project on the
topic photoelectric effect which also involved me
doing a lot of research and I came to know about
many new things. I am really grateful to them.
Secondly, I would like to thank my parents,
friends who helped me a lot in finalizing the project
within a limited time frame. They too provided me
with different information for this project.
Thanking you,
Safdar Hafiz
XII ‘Science’
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that I Safdar
Hafiz of class XII (Science) has
successfully completed this physics
project on the topic “photoelectric
effect ’’ prescribed by
Mr.Prasurjya Pathak, Physics
teacher of
MBRS, Borjhar during the
Academic session 2022-23 as per
the guidance issued by the Central
Board of Secondary Education.
 Photoelectric effect
The photoelectric effect is a phenomenon in which electrons are
ejected from the surface of a metal when light is incident on it.
These ejected electrons are called photoelectrons. It is important
to note that the emission of photoelectrons and the kinetic energy
of the ejected photoelectrons is dependent on the frequency of the
light that is incident on the metal’s surface. The process through
which photoelectrons are ejected from the surface of the metal
due to the action of light is commonly referred to
as photoemission.

The photoelectric effect occurs because the electrons at the

surface of the metal tend to absorb energy from the incident light
and use it to overcome the attractive forces that bind them to the
metallic nuclei. An illustration detailing the emission of
photoelectrons as a result of the photoelectric effect is shown!
Credit for the discovery of the photoelectric
effect has been given to Heinrich Hertz, who in
1887 found that an electrical spark passing
between two spheres would occur more readily,
if its path were illuminated with the light from
another electrical discharge. A more thorough
study by the German physicist Wilhelm
Hallwachs in 1888 demonstrated that under
certain conditions a negatively charged body,
for example, a metal plate, illuminated with
light of a particular color, loses its negative
charge and ultimately assumes a positive
charge (Arrhenius, 1922). Philipp Lenard
(Lenard, 1902) demonstrated that the
photoelectron velocity (i.e., its' kinetic energy)
was independent of the light intensity, but that
the electron velocity would vary only according
to the wavelength of the light, and the highest
velocities were attained when shorter
wavelengths of light would hit a metal electrode
(See Lenard, Radioactivité Hall of Fame, Part
I). Increasing the light intensity would increase
the number of photoelectrons, but not their
energies..
Principle of Photoelectric Effect

The law of conservation of energy forms the

basis for the photoelectric effect.

Photoelectric Effect Formula

According to Einstein’s
explanation of the photoelectric
effect :
The energy of photon = energy
needed to remove an electron +
kinetic energy of the emitted
electron
i.e. hν = W + E
Where,
h is Planck’s constant.
ν is the frequency of the incident
photon.
W is a work function.
E is the maximum kinetic energy
of ejected electrons: 1/2 mv²

Laws Governing the Photoelectric Effect

1-For a light of any given

frequency; (γ > γ Th) photoelectric
current is directly proportional to
the intensity of light
2- For any given material, there
is a certain minimum (energy)
frequency, called threshold
frequency, below which the
emission of photoelectrons
stops completely, no matter
how high is the intensity of
incident light.
3- The maximum kinetic energy
of the photoelectrons is found
to increase with the increase
in the frequency of incident
light, provided the frequency
(γ > γ Th) exceeds the
threshold limit. The maximum
kinetic energy is independent
of the intensity of light.
Experimental Study of Photoelectric
Effect

The given experiment is

used to study the
photoelectric effect
experimentally. In an
evacuated glass tube, two
zinc plates C and D are
enclosed. Plates C acts as
anode and D act as a
photosensitive plate.
Two plates are connected
to a battery B and
ammeter A. If the
radiation is incident on
the plate D through a
quartz window W
electrons are ejected out
of the plate and current
flows in the circuit. This
is known as photocurrent.
Plate C can be maintained
at desired potentiel (+ve
or – ve) with respect to
plate D.

Uses and effects of Photoelectric effect

(i)
Photomultipliers
 Photomultiplier

These are extremely light-sensitive vacuum

tubes with a coated photocathode inside the
envelope. The photo cathode contains
combinations of materials such as cesium,
rubidium, and antimony specially selected to
provide a low work function, so when
illuminated even by very low levels of light, the
photocathode readily releases electrons. By
means of a series of electrodes (dynodes) at
ever-higher potentials, these electrons are
accelerated and substantially increased in
number through secondary emission to provide
a readily detectable output current.
Photomultipliers are still commonly used
wherever low levels of light must be detected.

(ii)
Image sensors
Video camera tubes in the early days
of television used the photoelectric effect,
for example, Philo Farnsworth's "Image
dissector" used a screen charged by the
photoelectric effect to transform an optical
image into a scanned electronic signal.
(iii)

Night vision devices

Photons hitting a thin film of alkali
metal or semiconductor material
such as gallium arsenide in an image
intensifier tube cause the ejection of
photoelectrons due to the
photoelectric effect. These are
accelerated by an electrostatic
field where they strike
a phosphor coated screen,
converting the electrons back into
photons. Intensification of the signal
is achieved either through
acceleration of the electrons or by
increasing the number of electrons
through secondary emissions, such
as with a micro-channel plate.
Sometimes a combination of both
methods is used. Additional kinetic
energy is required to move an
electron out of the conduction band
and into the vacuum level. This is
known as the electron affinity of the
photocathode and is another barrier
to photoemission other than the
forbidden band, explained by
the band gap model. Some materials
such as gallium arsenide have an
effective electron affinity that is
below the level of the conduction
band. In these materials, electrons
that move to the conduction band all
have sufficient energy to be emitted
from the material, so the film that
absorbs photons can be quite thick.
These materials are known as
negative electron affinity materials.

CONCLUSION
The most important conclusion of
photoelectric effect is that it shows
that light radiation has particle
nature. That is light radiation is not
continous but discrete and photons
are the carriers of light. The photo
electric effects was one of the first
solid examples of the quantization of
light. Because of the result of the
metal only releasing electrons from
light with high enough frequency,
and not just from a lot of lower
frequency light, I was concluded
that light was quantized. Even a ton
of lower energy photons could not
trigger the photo electric effect,
where as one high energy photon
could.

Bibliography
I- https://byjus.com/jee/photoelectric-
effect/
II- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo
electric_effect#Uses_and_effects
III- https://www.sciencedirect.com/topic
s/earth-and-planetary-
sciences/photoelectric-
effect#:~:text=The%20photoelectr
ic%20effect%20is%20the%20pro
cess%20whereby%20the%20energ
y%20from,be%20ejected%20from
%20the%20atom.
IV- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
l1nRYdQvPz4&t=23s