PHOTO ELECTRIC EFFECT

PHOTO ELECTRIC EFFECT

1 .

PROPERTIES

OF

PHOTONS

Photon is a packet of energy emitted from a source of radiation. Photons are carrier particle of electromagnetic
interaction.

Photons travel in straight lines with speed of light c = 3 108 m/s.

The energy of photons is given as E = h =

hc
= mc2

where is frequency, is wavelength, h is Planck's constant.

The effective or motional mass of photon is given as m =

E h h
=
=
The momentum of a photon is given as p = mc =
c
c

The photon is a charge less particle of zero rest mass

from relativity E2 = p2c2 + mo 2c4

so

m0 =

1 E2
2
2 p
c c

h
c

h
c

1/ 2

=0

(as p =

E
)
c

Photons are electrically neutral. They are not deflected by electric and magnetic fields.
If E is the energy of source in joule then number of photons emitted is
total energy radiated
E E
n = energy of each photon = h = hc

Intensity of photons is defined as amount of energy carried per unit area per unit time. or power carried per
unit area
Intesity (Ip) =

Energy
Power
=
,
area time
area

Ip = nh =

N
4r 2

where n = number of photons per unit area per unit time

N = number of photons, P = power of source
e.g.

(a) For a point source

Ip = nh =

N
4r 2

(b) For a line source

Ip = nh =

Example based on properties of photon

Ex.1 Find the number of photons in 6.62 joule of radiation energy of frequency 1012 Hz?
Sol. No. of photons n =

E
6.62
=
= 1022
h 6.62 1034 1012

Ex.2 Calculate the energy and momentum of a photon of wavelength 6600.

Sol. energy of photon E =

hc 6.62 1034 3 108

=
= 3 1019 J
10

6600 10

momentum of photon p =

h
6.6 10 34
=
= 10 27 kg m / sec
6600 10 10

N
P
2rl