Practice portal › Dual Nature of Matter and Radiation › Conceptual and Statement Questions on the Photoelectric Effect

The photoelectric effect represents that ______.

Asked in RS Academy GUJCET booklet · Conceptual points of the photoelectric effect

Answer: (2) light has a particle nature

Step-by-step solution

Idea: compare what the wave picture and the photon picture of light predict.

Observed: emission is instantaneous, there is a threshold frequency, and Kₘₐₓ rises with frequency but not with intensity.

A continuous wave spreading its energy over the surface cannot explain any of these.

Photons of energy h u, each absorbed whole by one electron, explain all of them.

So the photoelectric effect shows that light has a particle nature.

Why the other options are wrong

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