Question

The stopping potential depends on :

• A. intensity of incident light
• B. frequency of incident light
• C. both (a) and (b)
• D. neither nor

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

Stopping potential $\left(V_0\right)$ stops the maximum energy electrons, it is a measure of the maximum kinetic energy $\left(K{E}_{\max }\right)$ electrons.
It is related as follows:
$e{V}_0=K{E}_{\max }=\frac{1}{2}m{v}_{\max }^2=hv$ where $v$ is frequency of incident light.
Hence, higher the frequency of incident light, higher will be the maximum kinetic energy of the emitted photoelectrons or higher will be stopping potential. Hence, stopping potential depends upon frequency of incident light.