Wavelength, Frequency, Amplitude, & Intensity

$c=\lambda v$

Claire Vandenberg 4L
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 2:56 pm

Wavelength, Frequency, Amplitude, & Intensity

I understand that, according to the equation C=V*λ, frequency and wavelength have an inverse relationship. However, how is intensity related to these two variables? If amplitude and intensity of the light have a direct relationship, how is intensity affected by frequency and wavelength?

JulissaLopez1F
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 2:57 pm

Re: Wavelength, Frequency, Amplitude, & Intensity

Energy of a photon is directly proportional to frequency

When you increase intensity of light, you increase number of photons. However increasing intensity of light doesn't mean electrons will be emitted.

Sascha_Clark_4I
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 2:56 pm

Re: Wavelength, Frequency, Amplitude, & Intensity

I dont think that intensity is dependent on the frequency or wavelength of a photon. The amplitude determines the intensity of the light because more photons are emitted in a unit of time.

Julia Hwang 3G
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:00 pm

Re: Wavelength, Frequency, Amplitude, & Intensity

For this experiment, the original thought was that increasing the intensity of light with longer wavelengths would cause electrons to be emitted from the metal. What they found was that longer wavelengths were unsuccessful at this task, no matter the intensity (# of photons emitted) or brightness of the light, but light with smaller wavelengths did in fact remove electrons. So it's really the wavelength of light that causes the removal, not necessarily the intensity (unless it's the correct wavelength I believe). The equation c = wavelength x frequency (i don't know how to get greek letters on my computer sorry haha) also proves this because as wavelength decreases, frequency increases, and energy is proportional to frequency. Higher energy is what is required to emit an electron from the metal. I hope this makes sense! It helped me also to explain this in writing. :)

Anwar Harb 3H
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2016 2:56 pm
Been upvoted: 2 times

Re: Wavelength, Frequency, Amplitude, & Intensity

My understanding is that intensity is unrelated to frequency and wavelength. Intensity is only related to amplitude, so if amplitude is increased then more photons are emitted and the intensity would increase as well. Amplitude and intensity simply affect the brightness of light being emitted and are thus unrelated to anything else.