electromagnetic radiation

[aaronharouni]

How does the photoelectric effect support the idea that electromagnetic radiation has the properties of particles?

[Francis_Nguyen3D]

The number of photons in a light beam affects the brightness of the whole beam, whereas the frequency of the light controls the energy of each individual photon. In the Photoelectric effect electrons are ejected from a metal surface based on the amount of energy absorbed. So, a certain threshold has to be reached for the electron to eject. Therefore a certain amount of photons (particles) have to be present in order to eject an electron instead of increasing the intensity of a wave. This supports the idea that particles are present in order to fully eject an electron.

[Sabrina Ryu 3L]

The photoelectric effect supports the idea that electromagnetic radiation has particle-like qualities, because a certain packet of energy (photons) is necessary to eject electrons of an atom, meaning EM radiation is quantized. If electrons were only wavelike, it would be a continuous spectrum.

[Sameen Mahmood 3D]

The photoelectric effect treats the incoming wavelength of light as a beam of photons, with each photon essentially being able to "knock out" an electron from a given atom as long as it has enough energy. We also discussed that the intensity of light is described as the number of photons present. Meaning, that light in the photoelectric effect is being considered for its particle like properties as opposed to its wave properties.