Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________

Physics 30/IBSL 14.2 Photoelectric effect

Part 1: Introduction: Read 14.2 and Complete the Photoelectric effect
GISMO in your class menu.
Student Exploration: Photoelectric Effect
Vocabulary: You will summarize this vocabulary on Part 2: Module 6 lesson 2 response sheet.

electron volt, frequency,wavelength, intensity, photocurrent, photoelectric effect, photon,

voltage (contrast an accelerating voltage compared to a retarding or stopping voltage), work
function, threshold frequency

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

Watch Quantum mechanics 1B video clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_t8dn4c6_g

1. Complete the following Chart employing your new formula E=hf or E=hc/λ and Planck’s

constant:

Type of EMR Wavelength Frequency (Hz) Energy per quantum

(Energy per photon)

Near-Infracted 750 nm 4.00 x 1014 Hz

2.53 x 10^-28

Joules

microwaves 6.66 x 10^7 m 4.50 x10 16 Hz 1.9 x10^1-4

eV

visible 4.25 x 10 -7 m 7.05 x 10^12 Hz 2.92 x 10^-2

eV

radio waves 4.99 x 10^-7 m 6.0 x 10 14 Hz 2.50 x 10^14

Joules

2. Suppose you went bowling, but instead of a bowling ball you rolled a ping pong ball down

the alley. What do you think would happen? Due to the lightness of the pins, it will bounce

off.

Adapted for SWC by KS 2019

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3. Suppose you rolled a lot of ping pong balls at the bowling pins. Do you think that would

change the results of your experiment? Explain. Yes, because the more the weight, the

easier it is to knock the bowling pin down.

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Gizmo Warm-up
The photoelectric effect occurs when tiny packets of light,
called photons, knock electrons away from a metal
surface. Only photons with enough energy are able to
dislodge electrons.
In the Photoelectric Effect Gizmo, check that the
Wavelength is 500 nm, the Intensity is 50%, the Voltage
is 0.0 volts, and Potassium is selected. Click Flash the
light to send photons of light (green arrows) toward the
surface of a metal plate encased in a vacuum tube.

1. The blue dots on the metal plate are electrons. What happens when the photons hit the

electrons? The electrons are displaced off the metal plate and migrate to the opposite side

when photons strike them.

2. What happens when the electrons reach the light bulb? It glows for a bit.

When electrons reach the light bulb they complete a circuit, causing the bulb to glow briefly.

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 Activity A: Get the Gizmo ready:
Wavelength and ● Check that the Voltage is 0.0 volts.
intensity ● Check that Potassium is selected.

Introduction: Through the centuries, many scientists have debated whether light is a wave or a
stream of tiny particles. In the 1800s, most scientists agreed that phenomena such as refraction
and diffraction supported the light-as-a-wave theory. However, Albert Einstein’s explanation of
the photoelectric effect showed that light can act like a stream of particles as well.

Question: How does the wavelength and intensity of light affect its ability to free
electrons from the surface of a material?

1. Observe: Click Flash the light with a variety of Wavelength values. What do you notice?

Higher wavelength - Does not affect the electron.

Lower the wavelength - It makes it go faster.

2. Observe: Click Flash the light with a variety of Intensity values. What do you notice?

More photons hit the surface of the board causing the bulb to glow brighter.

3. Form hypothesis: Answer the following questions based on what you have observed so far.

A. Which factor determines how many photons will strike the metal? The intensity of the
photon flux.

Explain: When increasing the intensity of the photon, it causes it to move more
making the light glow more.

B. Which factor determines how much energy each photon has? The wavelength.

Explain: The speed causes the change in wavelength.

4. Investigate: Set the Intensity to 10%. Uses the Gizmo to determine the largest wavelength

that will dislodge an electron from the surface of the metal. What is this value? 530 nm

5. Predict: Set the Wavelength to 540 nm. What do you think will happen if you flash the light
with an intensity of 10%? What will happen if you flash the light with an intensity of 100%?

No photons will be released.

(Activity A continued on next page)

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Activity A (continued from previous page)

6. Test: Click Flash the light with an Intensity of 10% and again with an Intensity of 100%.

What happened? No electrons were released.

7. Explore: Set the Wavelength to 400 nm. Experiment with different intensities of light.

A. Does the light intensity affect how many electrons are emitted? Yes.

Explain: When the intensity was higher, more electrons were released come to less
intensity where only one was released.

B. Does the light intensity affect the energy (speed) of the emitted electrons? No.

Explain: The speed of the electrons was the same in any condition of light.

8. Infer: For mechanical waves, such as sound waves or ocean waves, increasing the intensity
of the wave increases both the amplitude (height) of the wave and the energy it carries. In
that situation, a low-frequency but high-intensity wave should have the same effect as a
high-frequency but low-intensity wave. How does light behave differently from this model?

Because intense light does not have the same effects as non-intense light, light acts
differently from the model. Even when shining at great intensity, long-wavelength light has
no effect on the electrons.

9. Think and discuss: How is firing photons at the surface of a metal analogous to rolling
different types of balls at a set of bowling pins? If possible, discuss your answer with your
classmates and teacher.

Light photons behave like bowling pins as they roll approach them. The mass of the bowling
ball and the wavelength of photons are comparable. It is quite similar to firing small balls at
bowling targets to fire long-wavelength photons at metal objects. Any impact with a metal
object will cause electrons to shoot out like bowling pins when they have been knocked
over.

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:
● Set the Wavelength to 300 nm, the Intensity to
Voltage gradients 100%, and the Voltage to 0.0 volts.
● Turn on Show voltage gradient.

Introduction: The electrons that are freed from the surface of the metal have a specific amount
of kinetic energy. Faster electrons have greater energies than slower ones. The energy of
emitted electrons is measured by setting up an electrical field that opposes their motion. The
voltage of the field is a measure of its strength.

Goal: Use a voltage gradient to measure the energy of emitted electrons.

1. Observe: Check that Potassium is selected. Click Flash the light and observe the emitted
electrons. Increase the Voltage to 1.5 volts, and click Flash the light again.

How does the electrical field affect the motion of the emitted electrons? Makes it slow down.

2. Measure: The energy of an emitted electron is measured in electron volts (eV). An electron
with an energy of 1 eV can overcome an electrical field of 1 volt. In the Gizmo, increase the
voltage until you find the highest voltage that still allows the electrons to reach the light bulb.

What is this value? 1.8 eV It is equal to the energy of the emitted electrons in eV.

3. Gather data: With the Wavelength set to 300 nm, measure the energy of emitted electrons
for potassium, calcium, and uranium. Then measure the same values with wavelengths of
250 nm and 200 nm to complete the table.

Energy of emitted electrons (eV)

Element
300 nm 250 nm 200 nm
Potassium 1.8 eV 2.6 eV 3.8 eV
Calcium 1.2 eV 2.0 eV 3.2 eV
Uranium 0.5 eV 1.3 eV 2.5 eV

4. Analyze: What patterns do you notice in your data? The wavelength of light is decreasing as
the increase of the electron.

5. Infer: Based on your data, which element is hardest to extract electrons from? Uranium

Explain: Less energy.

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:
● Set the Voltage to 0.0 volts and select Potassium.
Work functions ● You will need a calculator and a copy of the
periodic table of the elements for this activity.

Introduction: It is easier to remove electrons from some elements than others. The energy
required to free an electron from the surface of a solid is the work function of the element.

Question: How much energy is required to liberate electrons from a material?

1. Predict: In general, the difficulty of removing electrons increases from left to right across
each row of the periodic table. Look up potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and uranium (U).
Based on their positions in the periodic table, which of these elements do you expect to
have the lowest work function? Which element will have the highest work function?

Lowest work function: Potassium Highest work function: Uranium

2. Gather data: Use the Gizmo to determine the highest wavelength for each element that still
removes electrons. Fill in the first column below. (Leave the other columns blank for now.)

Element Wavelength (nm) Frequency (Hz) Work function (eV)

Potassium 530 nm 5.66 x 10^14 Hz 2.34 eV
Calcium 420 nm 7.14 x 10^14 Hz 2.95 eV
Uranium 340 nm 8.82 x 10^14 Hz 3.65 eV

3. Calculate: The frequency of a wave, measured in hertz (Hz), is the number of waves that
passes a point each second. To calculate the frequency (f) of an electromagnetic wave,
divide the speed of light (c) by the wavelength (λ):

c
f=
λ
The speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s, or approximately 3.0 × 1017 nm/s. Using the equation,
calculate the frequency of each wavelength given in the table. Fill in the second column.

4. Calculate: The energy of a photon depends on its frequency. The energy of a photon (E) in
electron volts is equal to its frequency (f) multiplied by Planck’s constant (h):

E (eV) = h·f

In this calculation, h is equal to 4.136 × 10-15 eV·s. Calculate the work function of each
element in the table above. (Note: The values in your table are approximations.)

(Activity C continued on next page)

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Activity C (continued from previous page)

5. Draw conclusions: Based on the calculated work function for each element, which element
holds onto its electrons most tightly? Explain.

Because it has the greatest work function, uranium is the element which holds its electrons
in position the tightest.

6. Think and discuss: When the photoelectric effect was discovered, scientists were surprised
that low-frequency light was unable to remove electrons, even when emitted at extremely
high intensities. (In other words, scientists expected the low frequency of the light to be
offset by its high intensity.)

How does thinking about light as a stream of particles, rather than a single wave, explain
this result? If possible, discuss your answer with your classmates and teacher.

Low-frequency light should be capable of removing electrons from the surface of a metal
when it is emitted at a high enough intensity if light were just a wave. Only photons with
sufficient enough energy would be capable of releasing electrons from the surface of the
metal if the light was made up of a stream of photons. The quantity of photons increases but
not the overall energy as the light's intensity is increased. Therefore, even with very high
light intensity, no electrons would've been produced.

When finished this exploration worksheet complete the assessment questions at the end of
the GISMO (5 marks) and hand in this worksheet for Part 1

Go to part 2 posted on D2L employing pHet applet “photoelectric effect”

Part 2: Maxwell’s experimentation of the photoelectric effect (Graphical and

equations that describe the effect) see D2L for Module 6 lesson 2 assignment sheet,
html support pages and chapter 14 homework set

Simulation “ The photoelectric effect”

Support for the use of this applet see the e-learning module link provided.

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