Einstein photoelectric law

Einstein photoelectric law

[′īn‚stīn ¦fōd·ō·i¦lek·trik ‚lȯ]

(quantum mechanics)

The law that the energy of an electron emitted from a system in the photoelectric effect is h ν -W, where h is Planck's constant, ν is the frequency of the incident radiation, and W is the energy needed to remove the electron from the system; if h ν is less than W, no electrons are emitted.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.