Photoelectric effect

The key idea

In the photoelectric effect, electrons are emitted from a material when incident electromagnetic radiation has sufficiently high photon energy.

Why it matters

Increasing intensity raises the number of available photons, but below the threshold frequency it does not compensate for insufficient photon energy.

A picture to remember

Increasing intensity raises the number of available photons, but below the threshold frequency it does not compensate for insufficient photon energy.