Physical properties & threshold frequency

[SmileyMan]

What effects do the physical properties (size of atom etc.) of an elemental metal have on the threshold frequency for that metal? I haven't been able to find a correlation between a physical property and the size of the threshold frequency myself; maybe I haven't looked hard enough, or maybe I've misunderstood something.

 

[Einstein Mcfly]

By "threshold frequency" do you mean "work function" as in photoelectric effect? In that case, it's the ionization energy/electron affinity/all that stuff based on the "physical property" of charge shielding etc.

 

[SmileyMan]

By "threshold frequency" do you mean "work function" as in photoelectric effect? In that case, it's the ionization energy/electron affinity/all that stuff based on the "physical property" of charge shielding etc.

Thank you for answering. Yes, that is what I mean. Do you know where I can find an article describing how those properties affect the work function? I am finishing a project on quantum mechanics, and this is the only part I need.

 

[Einstein Mcfly]

Well, like I said, it's got a lot to do with the ionization energy and/or electron affinity of the metal. If you think about what you learned in your chemistry classes, ionization energy is the amount of energy needed to remove an electron from the highest occupied orbital. In the photoelectric effect experiment, you're striking a metal with a photon (of a certain energy) and removing its electron. So, if you look up these three things (I'd say start with wikipedia) it should start to make sense.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_function
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_affinity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionization_energy

 

[alxm]

This is a backwards question.
The physical properties of the material are due to the bonding properties and so forth of the constituent atoms, which in turn is a quantum-mechanical property. The work function is also a quantum mechanical property and related to the bonding etc, but apart from that observation there's no simple relationship between these things.

 

[SmileyMan]

Okay. Thank you both for answering. You have given me something to think about.