Work Function?

[905385366]

Where does the work function come in any of the chemistry problems so far? I do not understand what the work function is and how it relates to any formula so far.

[Jessica Castellanos]

A good question to look at is 1B.15 but the idea is that if a photon hits a metal surface, the work function is the energy required to remove electrons from different metals. This is called the photoelectric effect and the equation is

E(photon)- work function = Ek(excess kinetic energy)

where E(photon) is E=hv and Ek=1/2mv^2

I hope this helps!

[Tiffany Chao 2H]

Work function is the threshold energy. It basically means that its the minimum energy needed from the light source to shoot off an electron.

[Minh Ngo 4G]

Work function is the energy required to remove an electron from a metal surface. It can be obtained by subtracting the energy of the photon from the KE of the ejected electron

[Chetas Holagunda 3H]

Work function, also symbolized as phi in equations, is the minimum amount of energy needed from a photon to remove an electron from a metal surface. Each metal has a different work function. If the energy of a photon is more, then the electron will have kinetic energy which can be calculated with .5mv^2.

[Kavya Immadisetty 2B]

The work function is used to calculate the energy required to remove an electron from a metal.

[Claire Stoecklein 1E]

The work function is only used in problems involving the photoelectric effect, which doesn't seem to be many problems.

[Quynh Vo]

The work function/threshold energy is relevant in photoelectric effect problems. The energy of the photon minus the threshold energy equals the kinetic energy.