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A particle has more than enough energy to eject an electron from a metal's surface. What happens to the excess energy?

Answer 1

The electron moves away with the excess energy as kinetic energy.

This property is used in sample analysis; I have personally used it in my work.

Using energy dispersive X-1ray spectroscopy, we can identify the element from which each electron originated by measuring the excess energy of the electrons and comparing it with the energy of the incoming X-rays. This allows us to determine the binding energy of the inner shell electrons. For more information, see https://tutor.hix.ai

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Answer 2

Owen Ambrose

The excess energy is converted into the kinetic energy of the ejected electron.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.