Photoelectric effect
What Photoelectric effect means in Physics A-Level, as defined for AQA, OCR.
Definitions of Photoelectric effect
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Reference: OCR
A photon is fully absorbed and ejects a tightly bound inner-shell electron, with probability rising strongly with Z and falling rapidly as photon energy increases.
A phenomenon where light below a threshold frequency cannot eject electrons no matter how intense it is, explained by the particulate model.
Occurs when electromagnetic radiation above a threshold frequency ejects electrons from a metal surface almost instantly.
Topics that use Photoelectric effect
- Wave-particle duality (AQA A-Level)
- Nuclear fission and fusion (OCR A-Level)
- Photons (OCR A-Level)
Related terms
- Alpha and beta decay
- Barium
- Binding energy
- Binding energy per nucleon against nucleon number curve
- Chain reactions
- Characteristic X-rays from shell transitions
- Compton effect
- Computer reconstruction of attenuation data
Using Photoelectric effect in the exam
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