Home › AP Chemistry › Chemistry › Electronic Structure and Periodic Properties › In the photoelectric effect, electrons are eject…
In the photoelectric effect, electrons are ejected from a clean metal surface only when the light has:
AA high enough frequency
BA high enough brightness
CA long enough wavelength
DA long enough exposure
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. A high enough frequency
1. It had been observed that electrons could be ejected from the clean surface of a metal.
2. That happened when light having a frequency greater than some threshold frequency was shone on it.
3. Electrons were ejected when hit by photons having sufficient energy, meaning a frequency greater than the threshold.
4. Below the threshold no electrons come off no matter how bright or how long the light is applied.
_Source: OpenStax Chemistry 2e (CC BY 4.0), Ch 6 'Electronic Structure and Periodic Properties of Elements', sections 6.1-6.5_
Related questions
Microwave frequencies suit communication applications because such waves tend not to be:Newton's own explanation of light treated it as:The wavelength axis of the spectra shown uses the angstrom, where one angstrom equals:Bohr's model succeeded for hydrogen but he could not extend it to helium because helium haIn 1885 Johann Balmer derived an empirical equation relating hydrogen's four visible wavelEach emission line from a gas consists of a single wavelength, which implies the emitted lMaking the light brighter in a photoelectric experiment increases:The theoretical expression for blackbody radiation that matched experiment was derived aro