In the Photoelectric effect, Why does increasing the light intensity have no effect on the energy of the electron emitted?

The equation to calculate the energy of an emitted electron is: E = hf - φ, where E is the energy of the electron emitted, is the Planck's constant, f is the frequency of the light and φ is the work function of the metal which is the minimum energy required to emit an electron. Here you can see that nothing is dependant on light intensity because the intensity is essentially the number of photons and does not increase nor decrease the energy of a single photon, therefore has no effect on the energy of an electron emitted. 

If the light has enough energy to emit a photon i.e. has a high enough frequency, then the light intensity will increase the probability of an electron being emitted from the metal.  

PK
Answered by Pankaj K. Physics tutor

22095 Views

See similar Physics A Level tutors

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

Explain the photo-electric effect and describe how the intensity of light effects rate of electron emission.


What is a neutrino?


Single electrons travelling at 550 ms^-1 are passed through a diffraction grating with a spacing between the slits of 2.5 micrometers. What would the angle between the zeroth and first maximum of the resulting interference pattern be?


Sphere A (mass m), moving with speed 3v, collides with sphere B (mass 2m) which is moving in the opposite direction with speed v. The two spheres then combine, calculate the resulting velocity of the combined spheres.


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2025 by IXL Learning