1.2 Nature corpusculaire de la lumi`ere 2
1.2.2 Effet photo´electrique
6. En ´eclairant une plaque de potassium par des rayons ultraviolets de longueur d’onde
2500 A◦, on peut arracher des ´electrons d’´energie cin´etique maximale 2.75 eV .
D´eterminez le travail et la fr´equence de seuil du potassium.
7. Le baryum a son seuil photo´electrique `a 4950 A◦. D´eterminez l’´energie cin´etique
maximale des ´electrons arrach´es par des ultraviolets de 3000 A◦.
8. A partir des donn´ees exp´erimentales pr´esent´ees ci-dessous, montrez comment on
peut d´eterminer la constante de Planck.
Longueur d’onde des photons (A◦) 2536 2830 3039 3302 3663 4358
´
Energie cin´etique des ´electrons (eV ) 2.6 2.11 1.81 1.47 1.10 0.57
9. In a photoelectric experiment in which monochromatic light of wavelength λfalls on
a potassium surface, it is found that the stopping potential is 1.91 Vfor λ= 3000
A◦and 0.88 Vfor λ= 4000 A◦.
From these data, calculate :
(a) a value for Planck’s constant,
(b) the work function Wfor potassium,
(c) the threshold frequency νtfor potassium.
10. A beam of ultraviolet light of intensity 1.6 10−12 Wis suddenly turned on and falls
on a metal surface, ejecting electrons through the photoelectric effect. The beam
has a cross-sectional area of 1 cm2, and the wavelength corresponds to a photon
energy of 10 eV . The work function of the metal is 5 eV . How soon might one
expect photoelectric emission to occur ?
(a) A classical estimate can be based on the time needed for the work-function
energy to be accumulated over the area of one atom (radius ≈1A◦). Calculate
how long this would be, assuming the energy of the light beam to be uniformly
distributed over its cross section.
(b) Actually, as Lord Rayleigh showed, the estimate from (a) is too pessimistic.
An atom can present an effective area of about λ2to light of wavelength λ
corresponding to its resonant frequency. Calculate a classical delay time on
this basis.
(c) On the quantum picture of the process, it is possible for electron emission to
begin immediately - as soon as the first photon strikes the emitting surface.
But to obtain a time that may be compare to the classical estimates, calculate
the average time interval between arrival of successive 10 eV photons. This
would be the average time delay between switching on the beam and getting
the first electron.
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