Describe and explain the photoelectric effect in terms of photons interacting with the surface of a metal.

The photoelectric effect occurs when individual photons are incident on a clean metal surface. The photons are absorbed by electrons in the clean metal surface and they are released as photoelectrons. The interaction is one-to-one and is instantaneous. The energy of the photons must be greater than the work function of the clean metal surface in order for photoelectrons to be released. The work function is the minimum energy required to release photoelectrons from a clean metal surface. (Frequency greater than threshold frequency otherwise)This means that red light photons may be unable to release photoelectrons, but UV light photons can release photoelectrons. Einstein's theory indicates that the Kinetic Energy of the photoelectrons released is related only the energy of the incident photons and not related to the number of incident photons. The number of incident photons only affects the number of photoelectrons released.