3.2 Particles And Radiation Flashcards
Speed of light
3 x 10^8 ms^-1
C =
Speed of light
Planck Constant
6.63 x 10^-34
H or h =
Planck constant
E =
Energy of photon (J)
n=
Number of photons emitted per second
1 electron volt =
1.6 x 10^-19 joules
Rest mass is…
…the mass of an object when it is not moving. It is measured in kg
m=
Mass
What state do electrons want to be in?
Ground state / level - so they want to lose any energy that they have
How can electrons move to higher energy levels?
Thermally, electrically, collision by particles and by absorbing radiation
What is ionisation?
When electrons are given enough energy to move beyond the energy levels and leave the atom. They must reach the ionisation energy level.
What is thermal excitation?
- where an atom gains thermal energy
- particles collide more, so electrons can move to increasingly higher energy levels
What is excitation by an electron (electrical excitation)?
- one electron collides with another in the atom
- energy from the colliding electron (e.g 10eV) will collide with the atomic electron, making it jump up an energy level (e.g 6eV), leaving the atomic electron with excess energy (e.g 4eV)
- if the colliding electron doesn’t have enough energy for the atomic electron to move up an energy level, it will just continue its way with the same amount of energy
What is electrical excitation like in a gas discharge tube?
Colliding electrons pass their energy on to any atoms in one movement, so there is a lot of excitement and de excitement, so the gas emits a lot of visible photons.
What happens when the particles in electrical excitation are alpha or beta?
- They have so much KE that they are likely to ionise the atomic electrons.
- this means there is no de-excitement of electrons so no photons are released.
What happens in excitation by absorption of radiation?
- when many photons from a source are incident on some atoms, some atomic electrons will absorb the photons’ energy.
- if this is the case, the atomic electron will jump up energy levels and the photon will disappear (will be absorbed) - but ONLY if the energy of the incident photon is exactly the same as the difference between any 2 energy levels in the atom.
What is fluorescence?
- when higher energy photons (usually ultra violet) are absorbed by atoms, electrons jump up multiple energy levels
- the electrons then de-excite, dropping through the different energy levels and emitting visible photons as they do so
What is the work function of a metal?
The minimum amount of energy that an electron needs to escape from the surface of an uncharted metal.
Every metal has a unique work function.
It is not the ionisation energy of these atoms as the electrons are already delocalised.
It is roughly 0.6eV for most metals
What is particle like behaviour?
- having and transferring kinetic energy + momentum
- affected by forces such as gravity + electrostatic
What is wave like behaviour?
Reflection, refraction, polarisation, diffraction, interference
P=
Particles momentum
What is a nucleon
A proton or neutron