photoelectric effect

American  

noun

Physics.

1. the phenomenon in which the absorption of electromagnetic radiation, as light, of sufficiently high frequency by a surface, usually metallic, induces the emission of electrons from the surface.

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photoelectric effect British  

noun

1. the ejection of electrons from a solid by an incident beam of sufficiently energetic electromagnetic radiation

2. any phenomenon involving electricity and electromagnetic radiation, such as photoemission

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photoelectric effect Scientific  

1. The emission of electrons from a material, such as a metal, as a result of being struck by photons. Some substances, such as selenium, are particularly susceptible to this effect. The photoelectric effect is used in photoelectric and solar cells to create an electric potential.

2. Also called photoemission

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photoelectric effect Cultural  

1. The emission of electrons from a metal when light shines on it. The effect is widely used to convert a light signal into an electric current (see also current).

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Etymology

Origin of photoelectric effect

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

They have named this the photomolecular effect, by analogy with the photoelectric effect that was discovered by Heinrich Hertz in 1887 and finally explained by Albert Einstein in 1905.

From Science Daily

Just as the photoelectric effect liberates electrons from atoms in a material in response to being hit by a photon of light, the photomolecular effect shows that photons can liberate entire molecules from a liquid surface, the researchers say.

From Science Daily

George said: "As the probe is metallic, whenever it is sunlit, the sunlight can give enough energy to the probe to release electrons. This is the photoelectric effect, and the electrons that are released are so-called 'photoelectrons. They can create problems though, as they have the same properties as the electrons in the cold plasma around Saturn and there is not an easy way to separate the two."

From Science Daily

Eva Olsson, the chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said at a news conference on Tuesday that attosecond science “allows us to address fundamental questions” such as the time scale of the photoelectric effect for which Albert Einstein received the 1921 Nobel in Physics.

From New York Times

At Cal Tech, physicist Robert Millikan brought home the first of Southern California’s dozens of Nobel Prizes “for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect.”

From Los Angeles Times