Friday, August 12, 2011
The photoelectric effect and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle?
Einstein calculated that if light of frequency f descends up on a photoelectric surface then the maximum kinetic energy E of a resulting photoelectron can be calculated from hf = phi + E where h is Plank's constant and phi is the "work function" of the surface. Suppose our equipment is so precise that we can aim a laser with a frequency of exactly phi/h at a single atom in the surface. It seems to me that we will have a good estimate for the location of the electron while, at the same time, knowing its velocity is precisely 0 since its kinetic energy is 0. This appears to conflict with the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Any ideas how to deal with this?
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