![]() Instead of two bright spots, a bar code pattern of bright bands and dark bands was visible on the screen this was in agreement with the idea that light traveled in the form of waves.Įach of the two slits created a separate wave front, where interference between the waves occured. However, the observed result showed something very different. The expected result of the experiment was the presence of two bright spots on the screen, corresponding to the two slits made in the thin card. The experiment was fairly simple and required a light source, a thin card with two holes cut side by side, and a screen. The wave theory of light was proven in 1801 by English physicist Thomas Young, who designed and conducted the famous double-slit experiment. ![]() I HIGHLY recommend visiting this website and checking out a simulated version of the photoelectric effect, it's great: Here's a diagram showing the photoelectric effect for potassium: Out of this theory the quantum theory of light was formulated - the idea that light exists as tiny particles called photons, which is part of the dual nature of light theory. #nu# - the frequency of the incident photon The energy carried by a photon is mathematically described as This was the ultimate evidence for light's particle nature. ![]() Einstein argued that this could be explained if light was composed of "bundles", or photons when a photon strikes the metal's surface, its energy was transferred to the electron - much like when two billiard balls collide. Here is where Einstein's theory provided an explanaition. ![]() However, experimental data showed that the energies of the emmitted electrons were independent of the intensity of the light these energies were proportional to the frequencies of the incident light. the energy of the electrons should increase with the intensity of the incident light - the more intense the light, the bigger the average energy carried by an emmitted electron. According to the classical wave approach. Energy contained by the incident light is absorbed by the electrons in the metal this gives the electrons enough energy to be emmitted from the surface of the metal.Īn interesting thing was dicovered when trying to apply Maxwel's wave theory of light to this experiment. The photoelectric effect reffers to the emission (or ejection) of electrons from the surface of a metal in response to incident light. Light's particle-like traits are best explained by the photoelectric effect, the theory that Albert Einstein won his Nobel Prize for. ![]()
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