Answer:
c. The incident light must have at least as much energy as the electron work function
Explanation:
In photoelectric effect, electrons are emitted from a metal surface when a light ray or photon strikes it. An electron either absorbs one whole photon or it absorbs none. After absorbing a photon, an electron either leaves the surface of metal or dissipate its energy within the metal in such a short time interval that it has almost no chance to absorb a second photon. An increase in intensity of light source simply increase the number of photons and thus, the number of electrons, but the energy of electron remains same. However, increase in frequency of light increases the energy of photons and hence, the
energy of electrons too.
Therefore, the energy of photon decides whether the electron shall be emitted or not. The minimum energy required to eject an electron from the metal surface, i.e. to overcome the binding force of the nucleus is called ‘Work Function’
Hence, the correct option is:
<u>c. The incident light must have at least as much energy as the electron work function</u>
