photoelectric effect
noun
: the emission of free electrons from a metal surface when light strikes it
Examples of photoelectric effect in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
That honor went to his discovery of the photoelectric effect.
—
Alex Knapp, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2025
Einstein was eventually vindicated, but not on the strength of the photoelectric effect alone.
—Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 30 Oct. 2024
To see how a semiclassical theory can explain the photoelectric effect, imagine a kid on a swing.
—Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 30 Oct. 2024
This will later be called the photoelectric effect.
—Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 30 Oct. 2024
It was eventually disproved—thanks to the famous Michelson-Morley experiment in 1887 and Albert Einstein's development of special relativity and his paper on the photoelectric effect in 1905 (his annus mirabilis).
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 4 Feb. 2023
There are more fundamental possibilities, too, such as more detailed explorations of Einstein’s famed photoelectric effect, in which a photon impinges on metal, causing the metal to emit an electron.
—Daniel Garisto, Scientific American, 3 Oct. 2023
In his first paper, Einstein applied German physicist Max Planck’s quantum theory to light to explain the photoelectric effect.
—USA TODAY, 31 May 2023
Hertz’s discovery in 1887 of the photoelectric effect and the longstanding observation that Mercury’s orbit precesses around the Sun faster than predicted.
—The Physics Arxiv Blog, Discover Magazine, 12 Sep. 2022
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Alex Knapp, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2025
Einstein was eventually vindicated, but not on the strength of the photoelectric effect alone.
—Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 30 Oct. 2024
To see how a semiclassical theory can explain the photoelectric effect, imagine a kid on a swing.
—Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 30 Oct. 2024
This will later be called the photoelectric effect.
—Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 30 Oct. 2024
It was eventually disproved—thanks to the famous Michelson-Morley experiment in 1887 and Albert Einstein's development of special relativity and his paper on the photoelectric effect in 1905 (his annus mirabilis).
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 4 Feb. 2023
There are more fundamental possibilities, too, such as more detailed explorations of Einstein’s famed photoelectric effect, in which a photon impinges on metal, causing the metal to emit an electron.
—Daniel Garisto, Scientific American, 3 Oct. 2023
In his first paper, Einstein applied German physicist Max Planck’s quantum theory to light to explain the photoelectric effect.
—USA TODAY, 31 May 2023
Hertz’s discovery in 1887 of the photoelectric effect and the longstanding observation that Mercury’s orbit precesses around the Sun faster than predicted.
—The Physics Arxiv Blog, Discover Magazine, 12 Sep. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Photoelectric effect.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/photoelectric%20effect. Accessed 7 May. 2025.
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