The Photoelectric Effect Opens the Door to Our Future

Good morning, my fellow science-fiction fans! Yippee! It’s Friday!

Gosh. My mind was thinking of Star Trek once again. And seriously, who doesn’t love Star Trek? As for me, I’m up earlier than the robins this morning, though I can’t quite take credit for the cheerful start. Let’s just say my brain decided 4 AM was prime time for deep thoughts, so I figured, why not make it productive? Anyway, that means my latest blog is ready for you, so let’s read!

You know, as a science fiction writer, it’s really important for me to understand the science that shapes our world and the future , technology can bring. Often, when I think about the biggest questions in the universe, I realize the answers are hidden in the smallest details. Take light, for example. We used to just think of it as this wavy thing, right? Like ripples in a pond.

But then Albert Einstein, that brilliant guy, figured out something wild. Back in 1905, he showed us that light actually comes in tiny little bundles, like tiny packages of pure energy. We call them photons. And here’s the kicker: the colour of that light, whether it’s red or blue or anything in between, tells you how much force ( aka: energy ) each one of those little photon packages carries. This groundbreaking idea earned him a Nobel Prize.

Now, this isn’t just some abstract science stuff. Think about those cool automatic doors, like on Star Trek. You walk up, and whoosh, they just slide open. How does that happen? Well, there’s usually an invisible beam of these energetic photons hitting a sensor. When someone steps through, they block that beam. The sensor instantly knows, “Hey, no photons coming through anymore!” And the door moves.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? Even though Einstein uncovered this fundamental truth in 1905, and Star Trek gave us the vision of those slick automatic doors, the real-world application for those doors , didn’t truly take off until many years after the original series aired. It’s almost unbelievable! You might assume the Enterprise doors already ran on Einstein’s theory, but nope! It turns out Star Trek itself actually inspired scientists and engineers, years later, to consider how to make his theory a practical reality. Back then, they literally had two crew members hidden behind the set, sliding those doors open by hand, like a magic trick.

And get this: I have this mental image that the crew members in red shirts, after their… shall we say, unfortunate away mission departures, were simply repurposed! They weren’t really gone; they were just quietly assigned to slide those doors open behind the scenes. Talk about Starfleet finding a use for everyone, even the expendable ones! (I’m totally kidding, of course. Or am I?!)

And it’s the very same core idea that brings us solar panels. Think about all that sunlight pouring down – it’s billions and billions of photons, each carrying energy based on its colour. When enough of these tiny energy packets hit the right material in a solar panel with enough power, they actually knock electrons free. Those free electrons then create electricity. This is the power that lights our homes, charges our devices, and will fuel future cities on other planets. It’s pretty wild, isn’t it? To think that our entire modern world, even the seemingly magical doors on a starship, runs on the incredible power of just a single, well-aimed photon, and how long it took us to fully put that amazing knowledge into everyday use.

It truly lets us boldly go where no one has gone before.

Bari Marcus Anthony