A new method is proposed to determine the thermal effusivity of solid samples using a one dimensional photoacoustic scanning technique. The method employs a sample configuration in which the backing for a good light absorber layer is changed from a reference sample to the unknown sample by scanning the absorber surface with an incident modulated light beam. From the measured phase difference or amplitude ratio one can determine the thermal effusivity of the unknown sample, knowing the effusivity of the reference sample. The Rosencwaig-Gersho theory of photoacoustic effect has been extended to the present experimental situation and expressions have been derived for photoacousitc phase difference and amplitude ratio as the backing is changed. Values calculated using these expressions are found to agree well with measured values for different sample combinations except in amplitude ratio values when the thermal effusivities of the samples differ very widely. The reason for this disagreement is discussed.