Increasing Intensity

[Christina Diep 3A]

Can someone explain how increasing intensity ejects electrons if light only had wave properties?

[Jasmin Gonzalez]

This refers to the photoelectric effect where the particle nature of light and each photon carries a certain amount of energy. As the light intensity increases the number of photons increases but the energy of the individual energy of the photons determined by frequency rules the ability of ejecting electrons. So electrons that are emitted are on par with photos if equal or greater to the threshold frequency. The ones below the threshold emitted no electrons

[Ariel Peng 3J]

If light only had wave properties, the increasing intensity would mean a higher amplitude of the wave. However, this concept alone cannot explain the ejection of electrons. The classical wave theory suggests that higher intensity (more energy in the wave) should gradually increase the energy of electrons, eventually causing them to be ejected.