Hey guys,
this is a concept i have either forgotten or disregarded as being obvious but i dont undersntand why, for photoelectric emission, an electron has to gain enough kinetic energy from a single photon only in order to escape the surface or material it is on. LIke say for example, an electron accepts a photon and gains kinetic energy but not enough to escape, what if it gets another low energy photon, wouldnt the kinetic energy be increased until the point it has enough energy to escape? We spoke about this is my secondary school days but i dont recall our teachers ever explaining why this is the case.
this is a concept i have either forgotten or disregarded as being obvious but i dont undersntand why, for photoelectric emission, an electron has to gain enough kinetic energy from a single photon only in order to escape the surface or material it is on. LIke say for example, an electron accepts a photon and gains kinetic energy but not enough to escape, what if it gets another low energy photon, wouldnt the kinetic energy be increased until the point it has enough energy to escape? We spoke about this is my secondary school days but i dont recall our teachers ever explaining why this is the case.