In photoelectric effect, the photoelectric currenta) ...
Higher photocurrent implies, higher no. of electrons emitted/sec which in turn implies higher no. of photons incident per sec per unit area of higher intensity.
Moreover by increasing frequency, energy of incident photon gets changed but not their number
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In photoelectric effect, the photoelectric currenta) ...
The photoelectric effect refers to the emission of electrons from a material when it is exposed to electromagnetic radiation, typically in the form of light. The photoelectric current is the flow of these emitted electrons, and it is influenced by various factors such as the frequency and intensity of the incident light.
Frequency of Incident Photon:
- When light interacts with a material, it does so in discrete packets of energy known as photons. The energy of a photon is directly proportional to its frequency, meaning that higher frequency photons have greater energy.
- In the photoelectric effect, for an electron to be emitted from the material, it must absorb a photon with sufficient energy to overcome the binding energy of the electron.
- If the frequency of the incident photons is below a certain threshold value, regardless of the intensity, the electrons will not have enough energy to be emitted, and therefore no photoelectric current will flow.
- However, if the frequency of the incident photons is above the threshold, the electrons can absorb enough energy, and the photoelectric current will be observed.
- It is important to note that increasing the frequency of the incident photons does not directly increase the photoelectric current. Once the threshold is surpassed, further increases in frequency do not have a significant effect on the number of emitted electrons.
Intensity of Incident Beam:
- The intensity of the incident light refers to the number of photons per unit area per unit time. It represents the brightness or the total power of the light source.
- The intensity of the incident beam does not directly impact the photoelectric current. It only determines the number of photons incident on the material per unit time.
- Increasing the intensity will increase the number of incident photons, but each individual photon still needs to possess sufficient energy to overcome the binding energy of the electrons for emission to occur.
- Therefore, increasing the intensity will result in an increased number of emitted electrons per unit time, but it will not affect the maximum kinetic energy of the emitted electrons.
Conclusion:
Based on the above explanations, we can conclude that the photoelectric current does not depend on the frequency of the incident photon but rather on the intensity of the incident beam. The frequency only needs to be above a certain threshold for emission to occur, while the intensity determines the number of emitted electrons per unit time.
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