CH110 Study Guide - Final Guide: Work Function, Photon, No Wave
5. The photoelectric and Compton effects
In the preceding section we saw that Bohr’s relation
of (1.1) is merely the condition of a resonance and
has nothing to do with the concept of a photon. In
this section we shall show that the same resonance
phenomena can explain the photoelectric and
Compton effects and some other effects and
moreover all peculiarities of these effects that are
usually ascribed to particle-like photons.
A wave explanation of the photoelectric effect
follows immediately from the results of the
preceding section. The photoelectric effect signifies
that one of the electrons of a metal comes into
resonance with the incident light wave. The resonant
electron efficaciously sucks in the energy of the
wave until, so to speak, the resonator breaks down,
that is to say, until the electron escapes from the
metal. In this situation, the initial state of the
electron pertains to a discrete spectrum while the
final one to a continuous spectrum. In the resonance
condition hω = En − Em, the energy difference En −
Em is now equal to the work function W plus the
kinetic energy of the electron outside the metal, so
that
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mυ2
hω=W+ 2 . (5.1)
We have obtained Einstein’s photoelectric equation
that is usually deduced on the presumption of the
particle nature of light, whereas we did not resort to
the concept of a photon.
17
In attempting to understand the photoelectric effect
on undulatory grounds, the most incomprehensible
point is as to how even a very feeble electromagnetic
wave is able to eject an electron from a metal and
impart an appreciable velocity to the electron. The
examples of the preceding section (neutron
scattering by 54Xe135 nuclei, acoustic resonators,
lasers) suggests that the original incident wave
intensity has nothing to do with the actual wave
intensity in the vicinity of the resonant electron, the
latter intensity being substantially higher than the
former. When sucking in the wave, the resonant
electron sculptures its own electromagnetic wave
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Document Summary
In the preceding section we saw that bohr"s relation of (1. 1) is merely the condition of a resonance and has nothing to do with the concept of a photon. In this section we shall show that the same resonance phenomena can explain the photoelectric and. Compton effects and some other effects and moreover all peculiarities of these effects that are usually ascribed to particle-like photons. A wave explanation of the photoelectric effect follows immediately from the results of the preceding section. The photoelectric effect signifies that one of the electrons of a metal comes into resonance with the incident light wave. The resonant electron efficaciously sucks in the energy of the wave until, so to speak, the resonator breaks down, that is to say, until the electron escapes from the metal. In this situation, the initial state of the electron pertains to a discrete spectrum while the final one to a continuous spectrum.
