Final answer:
The energy of a photon of visible light with a wavelength of 500 nm is 2.48 eV, calculated using the formula E = hc/\lambda and converting the resulting energy from joules to electron volts.
Step-by-step explanation:
The energy of a photon can be calculated using the equation E = hc/\lambda, where E is the energy in joules, h is Planck's constant (6.626 x 10-34 J\cdot s), c is the speed of light in a vacuum (3 x 108 m/s), and \(\lambda\) is the wavelength of light in meters. For a wavelength of 500 nm (which is 500 x 10-9 m), the energy can be calculated as follows:
E = (6.626 x 10-34 J\cdot s)(3 x 108 m/s) / (500 x 10-9 m) = 3.972 x 10-19 J.
To express this energy in electron volts (eV), we use the conversion 1 eV = 1.602 x 10-19 J, which gives us:
E = 3.972 x 10-19 J / (1.602 x 10-19 J/eV) = 2.48 eV.
The energy of a photon of visible light with a wavelength of 500 nm is therefore 2.48 eV.