In short, when light illuminates a piece of metal, the light kicks off electrons from the metal’s surface and these electrons can be detected as a change in the electric charge of the metal or as an electric current. Hence the name: photo for light and electric for the current. The explanation behind this simple phenomenon opened the door to revolutionary modern physics concepts regarding the composition of light, quantum mechanics, and what is now referred to as the “wave-particle duality” of nature. The wave-particle duality of nature is perhaps one of the greatest mysteries of our universe and a very interesting philosophical subject! Your goal in this lab is to reproduce the photoelectric effect for yourselves and to understand how it demonstrates the particle behavior of light.
