the ejection of electrons from a solid by an incident beam of sufficiently energetic electromagnetic radiation
2.
any phenomenon involving electricity and electromagnetic radiation, such as photoemission
photoelectric effect in American English
noun
Physics
the phenomenon in which the absorption of electromagnetic radiation, as light, of sufficiently high frequency by a surface, usually metallic, induces the emission of electrons from the surface
Also called: photoemission
Word origin
[1890–95]This word is first recorded in the period 1890–95. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: bootstrap, masochism, neoclassicism, plein-air, wireless
Examples of 'photoelectric effect' in a sentence
photoelectric effect
Today, solar cells use the photoelectric effect to convert sunlight into power.
2019, 'A Brief History of Solar Panels', Smithsonianhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/sponsored/brief-history-solar-panels-180972006/
Which theoretical physicist discovered the law of the photoelectric effect in 1905?
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Both patents were essentially early solar cells based on the discovery of the photoelectric effect.
2019, 'A Brief History of Solar Panels', Smithsonianhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/sponsored/brief-history-solar-panels-180972006/
The imaging technique uses the photoelectric effect, which occurs when light hits the silicon plate and knocks out electrons in the photocells.