Work Function

[thanh24mai]

Can someone explain what work function is? And is work function and the term threshold energy used interchangeably?

[Michael Nguyen 1E]

Essentially, the work function and the threshold energy are the same. They both represent the amount of energy needed to remove an electron from a particular element. However, the term "work function" is typically given in units of energy per mole of electrons and needs to be converted to just the energy for a single electron using Avogadro's number.

[Michelle Le 1J]

Work function and threshold energy are basically the same thing; it's the minimum energy needed to eject an electron from a certain metal. If the the energy of the light does not meet the threshold energy, then no electrons will be emitted regardless of intensity of light.

[Matthew ILG 1L]

It seemed to me that during the lecture Dr. Lavelle was using "Work Function" and "Threshold Energy" fairly interchangeably.

[Doreen Liu 4D]

The work function is in the energy of photons equation. It is the threshold energy which is the minimum energy needed to free electrons from a certain metal.