Problems using photon's energy to calculate electron's velocity

  • Thread starter Thread starter mgeoghe2
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Energy Velocity
mgeoghe2
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
ive got this problem in which i am given:
the work function of tungsten = 4.5 eV
light with photon energy 5.8 eV illuminates surface

and i need to figure out what the velocity of the fastest electron ejected from the surface is.

so i see work function and 'fastest' and i think, ok KEmax = hf - work function. and KE is just .5mv^2. the problems i run into are these:
where do i get f? or hf?
i see that E = hf , so i think, ok i will use 5.8 -4.5 = KEmax. but then i run into another problem.
which mass do i use? i got really screwed up with the units... i can use 9.109e-31 kg but i don't know if and eV is kg m^2/s^2. i am also given the mass of an electron as .511 MeV/c^2 but i don't really understand what that means. is it .511e6 or .511e6/(3e8)^2??
if you have any insightful comments, i would be very grateful.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Since you know the rest energy of electron you can find the speed from

\frac {v^2}{c^2} = \frac {2 \times 1.3 eV}{m c^2}
 
Hi, I had an exam and I completely messed up a problem. Especially one part which was necessary for the rest of the problem. Basically, I have a wormhole metric: $$(ds)^2 = -(dt)^2 + (dr)^2 + (r^2 + b^2)( (d\theta)^2 + sin^2 \theta (d\phi)^2 )$$ Where ##b=1## with an orbit only in the equatorial plane. We also know from the question that the orbit must satisfy this relationship: $$\varepsilon = \frac{1}{2} (\frac{dr}{d\tau})^2 + V_{eff}(r)$$ Ultimately, I was tasked to find the initial...
The value of H equals ## 10^{3}## in natural units, According to : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_units, ## t \sim 10^{-21} sec = 10^{21} Hz ##, and since ## \text{GeV} \sim 10^{24} \text{Hz } ##, ## GeV \sim 10^{24} \times 10^{-21} = 10^3 ## in natural units. So is this conversion correct? Also in the above formula, can I convert H to that natural units , since it’s a constant, while keeping k in Hz ?
Back
Top