Chapter 38

Photons: Light Waves

Behaving as Particles
PowerPoint Lectures for
University Physics, Thirteenth Edition
Hugh D. Young and Roger A. Freedman

Copyright 2012 Pearson Education Inc.

 Goals for Chapter 38
To consider the fundamental constituent of light, the photon
To study the removal of an electron by an incident photon,
the photoelectric effect
To understand how the photon concept explains x-ray
production, x-ray scattering, and pair production
To interpret light diffraction and interference in the photon
picture
To introduce the Heisenberg uncertainty principle

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 Introduction
Until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, light was well
understood as an electromagnetic wave.
In the same year (1905) that Einstein published his famous
paper on Special Relativity, he also published a paper on the
photoelectric effect. He won the Nobel Prize for the later, but
remarkably no prize was ever given for Relativity!
When Einstein and others published work on the photoelectric
effect, scientists began to understand light also as a discrete unit,
the photon.

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 The photoelectric effect
Blue light striking a cesium target causes the cesium to emit electrons.
Red light does not, no matter how intense. This violates the wave-
description of light.
Einsteins explanation: Light comes in photons. To emit an electron, the
cesium atom must absorb a single photon whose energy exceeds the
ionization energy of the outermost electron in cesium. A blue photon has
enough energy;
a red photon does not.

eV0 hf
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 Einsteins explanation of the photoelectric effect
A photon contains a discrete amount of
energy. For light of frequency f and
wavelength , this energy is E = hf or E h eV0 hf
E = (hc)/, where h is Plancks constant
6.626 1034 J-s = 4.136 1015 eV-s.
1 eV = 1.602 1019 J-s
This explains how the energy of an emitted
electron in the photoelectric effect depends
on the frequency of light used.
Different materials can have a different
threshold frequency, but once that threshold
is exceeded, the dependence is the same.
The momentum of a photon of wavelength
is p = E/c = h/. Can write it in terms of
wavenumber k = 2p/, p k or wave-
34
vector p k , where h 2p = 1.055 10 J-s
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 The photoelectric effectexamples
Example 38.1Laser-pointer photons.
Lets explore this idea of photons and get an idea of the numbers of photons
in a typical laser pointer. Say a red laser pointer (wavelength = 650 nm)
has 0.5 mW of output power. Each photon has an energy E = hc/ , =
6.6310-34*3108/6.5010-7 = 3.0610-19 J. Since 0.5 mW = 510-3 J/s,
this is 510-3 J/s / 3.0610-19 J/photon = 1.631016 photons/s.
Example 38.3Determining and h experimentally.
In a photoelectric experiment you measure stopping potentials V0 for light
of three different wavelengths, 1.0 V for 600 nm, 2.0 V for 400 nm, and
3.0 V for 300 nm. Determine the work function and Plancks constant h.
eV0 hf
To do this, we need the frequencies
c3 108
f 5 1014
;7.5 1014
;1015
Hz
6, 4,3 10 7

Any two of these is enough for a straight line.

e(V2 V1 ) e(V2 V1 )
h; hf1 eV1 f1 eV1
f 2 f1 f 2 f1

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 X-ray production
The reverse process of the photoelectric effectinstead of a photon
being absorbed on interaction with matter and emitting an electron, we
have an electron interacting with matter and emitting a photon.
An experimental arrangement for making x rays is shown in Figure
38.7 at lower left. The greater the kinetic energy of the electrons that
strike the anode, the shorter the minimum wavelength of the x rays
emitted by the anode (see Figure 38.8 at lower right).
The photon model explains this behavior: Higher-energy electrons can
convert their energy into higher-energy photons, which have a shorter
wavelength (see Example 38.4).
hc hc
Emax min
min eVmax
For Vmax 50 kV, min 24.8 pm

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 X-ray scattering: The Compton experiment
In the Compton experiment, x rays are
scattered from electrons. The scattered x
rays have a longer wavelength than the
incident x rays, and the scattered
wavelength depends on the scattering
angle . h
(1 cos )
mc
Explanation: When an incident photon
collides with an electron, it transfers some
of its energy to the electron. The scattered
photon has less energy and a longer
wavelength than the incident photon. These
are elastic collisions, so both momentum
and energy are conserved.
pc mc 2 pc Ee (cons. of energy)
p p Pe (cons. of momentum)

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 X-ray scattering: The Compton experiment
Example 38.5Compton Scattering: You use 0.124-nm x-ray photons in a
Compton-scattering experiment. (a) At what angle is the wavelength of the
scattered photons 1.0% longer than the incident x-rays? (b) How much
energy went into the scattering particle? h
(1 cos )
mc
(a) Since is 1% longer, = 0.01, so solving for ,
mc mc
0.01 (1 cos ) arccos 1 0.01 60o.7
h h
(b) The photon energy lost in the scattering is
hc hc hc 0.01 hc
E ( )
1.01

That is the same energy gained by the particle.

E 0.01
6.63 10 34
J-s 3 108 m/s
1.59 1015 J 991 eV
1.24 1010 m
2h
Note max change in wavelength is for head-on collision ( = 180),
mc

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 Pair production
When gamma rays of sufficiently short wavelength are fired into a metal
plate, they can convert into an electron and a positron (positively-charged
electron, or anti-matter electron), each of mass m and rest energy mc2.
The photon model explains this: The photon wavelength must be so short that
the photon energy is at least 2mc2. Note that the particles have to have exactly
the same energy and angle in order to conserve momentum.
The reverse process can occurthe positron and electron can come together
and annihilate to produce a photon (or more than one photon)
Example 38.6: An electron and positron,
initially far apart, move toward each other at the
same speed. They collide head-on, annihilating
each other and producing two photons. Find the
energies, wavelengths and frequencies of the two
photons if the initial kinetic energies of the two are
(a) negligible, or (b) both 5.00 MeV.
(a) In this case, the energies of the particles are each
just their rest masses mc2, so each photon has that energy.
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 Diffraction and uncertainty
When a photon passes through a narrow slit, its momentum becomes uncertain
and the photon can deflect to either side. By limiting the size vertical space to
the slit width a, the vertical (y) momentum becomes uncertain according to the
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: x p
2
Each photon lands with some uncertainty, but a diffraction pattern is the result of
many photons hitting the screen. The pattern appears even if only one photon is
present at a time in the experiment.Tthe pattern is not a consequence of
interference between two photons. Each photon interferes with itself.

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 The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
You cannot simultaneously know the position and
momentum of a photon with arbitrarily great precision.
The better you know the value of one quantity, the less
well you know the value of the other.
x p
2
In addition, the better you know the energy of a photon,
the less well you know when you will observe it.
E t
2

No localization Better localization

in space in space

Precise knowledge Worse knowledge

of wavelength of wavelength
(momentum) (momentum)

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