Question 28.Q-Q.4: Suppose classical physicists had come up with the idea of pr...

Suppose classical physicists had come up with the idea of predicting the appearance of a plot of K_{\max } versus f as in Active Figure 28.9. What would their expected plot look like, based on the wave model for light?

Screenshot 2022-03-24 121740
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Classical physics predicts that light of sufficient intensity causes emission of photoelectrons, independent of frequency and without a cutoff frequency. Also, the greater the intensity, the larger the maximum kinetic energy of the electrons, with some time delay in emission at low intensities. Therefore, the classical expectation (which did not match experiment) yields a graph that looks like the one at the bottom of the left column.

Screenshot 2022-03-24 121740

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