Determination of Planck's Constant

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Description of the Experiment

The purpose of this experiment is to study the photoelectric effect and calculate Planck's constant using 5 different coloured leds and a photoelectric cell.


Experimental Apparatus

Led's spectrum
Figure 1: Led's spectrum.

The photoelectric cell is from the PASCO AP-9368 apparatus. It works like a capacitor where one of the plates emits photoelectrons when excited by light. The potential between the plates of the photocell will increase with the emitted photoelectron accumulation. After reaching a certain voltage, the stopping potential will be greater than the photoelectron's kinetic energy, and these will not have enough energy to reach the second plate. This voltage will depend on the wavelength of the incident light (photon energy).

After each experiment the photocell is connected to ground to discharge it.

The leds have different efficiency, leading to different intensities for a chosen brightness. Therefore, the charging time will be different between colors.

Table 1 – Led's spectrum peaks
Color Frequency (THz) Wavelegth (nm) Espectros dos leds
Blue.ab 638.7 469.70 File:Espectro Azul.ab.txt
Blue 684.6 438.20 File:Espectro Azul.txt
Red 482.2 622.21 File:Espectro Vermelho.txt
Yellow 514.4 583.16 File:Example.txt
Green 530.8 565.22 File:Espectro Verde.txt


Protocol

The number of photoelectrons emitted will increase with the intensity of light (corpuscular behaviour of light).

  1. Choose a led to light upon the photocell
  2. Measure the stopping potential. Note the time necessary to reach the maximum potential.
  3. Repeat step 2 for different intensities.
Example of a table
Color #1 __________(name) Intensity (%) Stop Potential (V) Time (s)
  100    
  80    
  60    
  40  
  20  


Planck's constant
Figure 2: Potential vs. Peaks Frequency of the spectrum

The photoelectron's kinetic energy depends only on the frequency of the incident light. If the frequency of light increases, the energy will increase.

  1. Obtain the stop potentials for different colour leds.
  2. Draw a graphic of Stop Potential vs Frequency. Fit it to \( V = \frac{h}{e} \nu - \frac{W_0}{e} \) and obtain Planck's constant.


Example of a table
Colour (name) Frequency (Hz) Stop Potential (V)
 
 
 
 
 


Advanced Protocol

  1. Study the photocell's charging process for different intensities.
  2. Find the expected value for wavelength using the led spectra.
  3. Use those values for a new graphical fitting and compare the results.
  4. Redo the voltage vs. frequency graph, this time with error bars.

Note: This setup uses a 12bit ADC from 0V to 5V.


Theoretical Principles

Photoelectric effect

The photoelectric effect happens when a metal surface is illuminated by a light with a given frequency, causing electrons to be freed. A photon with

In This Setup

Historical Elements

In 1921, Albert Einstein won the Nobel Physics Prize for his work on the photoelectric effect.


Links