By: Virwane Rose P. Abellera Hanz Raymond B. Consumo Bill Ervein P. Ramientos
By: Virwane Rose P. Abellera Hanz Raymond B. Consumo Bill Ervein P. Ramientos
By: Virwane Rose P. Abellera Hanz Raymond B. Consumo Bill Ervein P. Ramientos
Abellera
Hanz Raymond B. Consumo
Bill Ervein P. Ramientos
The electromagnetic radiation is a form of
energy that is produced by oscillating electric
and magnetic disturbance, or by the
movement of electrically charged particles
traveling through a vacuum or matter.
When light with energy above a certain threshold hits a metal surface, an electron that was
previously bound to the metal is knocked loose. Each particle of light, called a photon,
collides with an electron and uses some of its energy to dislodge it from the metal. The rest of
the photon’s energy is transferred to the now free-roaming negative charge, called a
photoelectron.
So why does this happen? What determines the energies (and speeds) of the emitted
electrons? To understand the answers to these questions, we need to dig a little into the
history of the discovery of the photoelectric effect.
ATOMIC SPECTRA
When atoms are excited they emit light of certain wavelengths which correspond to different colors. The
emitted light can be observed as a series of colored lines with dark spaces in between; this series of
colored lines is called a line or atomic spectra. Each element produces a unique set of spectral lines.
Since no two elements emit the same spectral lines, Energy can travel through a vacuum or matter as
electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic radiation is a transverse wave with magnetic and electric
components that oscillate perpendicular to each other. The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all
possible wavelengths and frequencies of electromagnetic radiation including visible light.
It may seem remarkable that we can learn about the composition of distant stars by studying the
light they emit. In fact, we can learn a great deal, not only about the chemical elements present,
but also about physical conditions. The key is to spread the light out by color, producing a spectrum like the one
shown in Fig. 1. This lab explores some of the basic ideas used to analyze spectra.
He used the line emission spectrum of hyrogen and explained it using the basic concepts of
electromagnetic radiation and the quantum ideas of Plank and Eintein.