photoelectric effect

Definition: photoelectric effect: The reason is that a photon has energy in proportion to its wavelength, and the constant of proportionality is the Planck constant. Below a certain frequency -- and thus below a certain energy -- the incident photons do not have enough energy to knock the photoelectrons out of the metal. Above that threshold energy, called the work function, photons will knock the photoelectrons out of the metal, in proportion to the number of photons (the intensity of the light). At higher frequencies and energies, the photoelectrons ejected obtain a kinetic energy corresponding to the difference between the photon's energy and the work function.