Question #1490f

1 Answer
Jun 10, 2017

#4 * 10^(18)#

Explanation:

Start by converting the wavelength of the photons from angstrom to meters by using the fact that

#1color(white)(.)stackrel(@)("A") = 1 * 10^(-10)# #"m"#

You should end up with

#7000 color(red)(cancel(color(black)(stackrel(@)("A")))) * (1 * 10^(-10)color(white)(.)"m")/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)(stackrel(@)("A"))))) = 7 * 10^(-7)# #"m"#

Next, calculate the frequency of a single photon by using the fact that frequency and wavelength have an inverse relationship described by the equation

#color(blue)(ul(color(black)(nu * lamda = c)))#

Here

  • #lamda# is the wavelength of the photon
  • #nu# is the frequency of the photon
  • #c# is the speed of light in a vacuum, usually given as #3 * 10^8"m s"^(-1)#

Rearrange to solve for the frequency of the photon

#nu * lamda = c implies nu = c/(lamda)#

Plug in your value to find

#nu = (3 * 10^8 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("m"))) "s"^(-1))/(7 * 10^(-7)color(red)(cancel(color(black)("m")))) = 4.3 * 10^(14)# #"s"^(-1)#

Now, you know that the energy of a photon is directly proportional to its frequency, i.e. the higher the frequency, the higher the energy, as described by the Planck - Einstein equation

#color(blue)(ul(color(black)(E = h * nu)))#

Here

  • #E# is the energy of the photon
  • #h# is Planck's constant, equal to #6.626 * 10^(-34)"J s"#

Use this equation to calculate the energy of a single photon of this frequency

#E = 6.626 * 10^(-34)color(white)(.)"J" color(red)(cancel(color(black)("s"))) * 4.3 * 10^(14)color(red)(cancel(color(black)("s"^(-1))))#

#E = 2.85 * 10^(-19)# #"J"#

Since you know that the total energy provided by the photons must be equal to #"1 J"#, use the energy of a single photon to calculate the number of photons needed to get this energy output

#1 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("J"))) * "1 photon"/(2.85 * 10^(-19)color(red)(cancel(color(black)("J")))) = color(darkgreen)(ul(color(black)(4 * 10^(18)color(white)(.)"photons")))#

The answer is rounded to one significant figure, the number of sig figs you have for your values.