Students from the Department of Solid State Physics and Nanostructures at the Faculty of Physics, VSU, conducted an experiment to replicate the structure designed by German scientists James Franck and Gustav Hertz. In 1925, this experiment on the discreteness of energy levels won the Nobel Prize “for the discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom”.
The experiment by students of the Faculty of Physics at VSU demonstrated that atoms can absorb energy only in certain discrete quantities, quanta. It also showed that electrons in an atom can occupy only specific energy levels. Although the experiment is relatively simple to implement and is used in the educational process, it is challenging for students to reconstruct the experiment on their own. Such tasks allow students to delve deeper into experimental physics.
“Working on the laboratory set-up for the Frank-Hertz experiment, we solved some interesting issues and gained invaluable experience,” said Aleksandr Frolov, a second year student of the Faculty of Physics at VSU.
The work we did and the experience we gained were very useful for me. I am glad that we had an opportunity not only to read about this experiment, but also to practice it,” said Konstantin Prokopenko, a third year student of the Faculty of Physics at VSU.
