## wavelength to remove an electron

$\lambda=\frac{h}{p}$

Clara Cho 2K
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Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2019 12:18 am

### wavelength to remove an electron

How would you calculate the longest wavelength of light that can remove an electron when given the work function?

Lindsey Chheng 1E
Posts: 110
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:16 am

### Re: wavelength to remove an electron

Clara Cho wrote:How would you calculate the longest wavelength of light that can remove an electron when given the work function?

The longest wavelength of light would correlate to the least amount of energy a photon has to be in order to eject an electron from a metal surface, which means it would be equivalent to the work function. So since E(photon) = work function, you can set work function = hv. Then use the frequency to find the wavelength of the photon.

Mai V 4L
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Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:23 am

### Re: wavelength to remove an electron

Does aanyone have a video they think is a good reference for this topic?

MeeraBhagat
Posts: 95
Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2019 12:15 am

### Re: wavelength to remove an electron

When they’re asking for the longest wavelength of light, using the equation c=(wavelength)(frequency), you can see that this means looking for light with the smallest frequency. Frequency correlates to energy of the photon by the equation E=h(frequency) where the smallest possible frequency would mean the most minimal amount of energy to remove an electron. This is equal to the work function and that would be your answer.