Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Einstein's explanation of the photoelectric effect extended the quantum theory which Max Planck had developed in his successful explanation of black-body radiation. Despite the greater fame achieved by his other works, such as that on special relativity, it was his work on the photoelectric effect that won him his Nobel Prize in 1921. [9]
In 1905, Albert Einstein published a paper advancing the hypothesis that light energy is carried in discrete quantized packets to explain experimental data from the photoelectric effect. Einstein theorized that the energy in each quantum of light was equal to the frequency of light multiplied by a constant, later called the Planck constant. A ...
The energy content of this volume element at 5 km from the station is 2.1 × 10 −10 × 0.109 = 2.3 × 10 −11 J, which amounts to 3.4 × 10 14 photons per (). Since 3.4 × 10 14 > 1, quantum effects do not play a role. The waves emitted by this station are well-described by the classical limit and quantum mechanics is not needed.
Einstein's paper on the photoelectric effect is sixth on this list. The following chronology of Einstein's scientific discoveries provides a context for the publications listed below, and clarifies the major themes running through his work. Einstein's scientific career can be broadly divided into two periods.
In 1905, Albert Einstein adapted the Planck postulate to explain the photoelectric effect, but Einstein proposed that the energy of photons themselves was quantized (with photon energy given by the Planck–Einstein relation), and that quantization was not merely a feature of microscopic oscillators.
The photoelectric effect: Einstein explained this in 1905 (and later received a Nobel prize for it) using the concept of photons, particles of light with quantized energy. Robert Millikan's oil-drop experiment, which showed that electric charge occurs as quanta (whole units). (1909)
The classic photomultiplier tube exploits the photoelectric effect: a photon of sufficient energy strikes a metal plate and knocks free an electron, initiating an ever-amplifying avalanche of electrons. Semiconductor charge-coupled device chips use a similar effect: an incident photon generates a charge on a microscopic capacitor that can be ...
Einstein's photon had an energy proportional to its frequency and also explained an unpublished law of Stokes and the photoelectric effect. [5] This published postulate was specifically cited by the Nobel Prize in Physics committee in their decision to award the prize for 1921 to Einstein.