Asked by kayla
Light shining on a strip of metal can dislodge electrons. Do you think this is more consistent with light being made up of waves or of particles?
waves
particles
not sure
All Answers 1
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
AI
particles
This is the photoelectric effect, which is explained by light behaving as particles (photons). Each photon carries energy E = hf; only photons with h f above a material-dependent threshold can dislodge an electron. Increasing intensity raises the number of photons (more electrons emitted) but not the energy per photon, so it doesn't remove the frequency threshold—something wave theory couldn't explain.
This is the photoelectric effect, which is explained by light behaving as particles (photons). Each photon carries energy E = hf; only photons with h f above a material-dependent threshold can dislodge an electron. Increasing intensity raises the number of photons (more electrons emitted) but not the energy per photon, so it doesn't remove the frequency threshold—something wave theory couldn't explain.
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