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When light shines on a metal, electrons are ejected from the surface of the metal provided the energy of the photons are greater than the work function of the metal.

My question is:

  1. Where do the ejected electrons go? Are they running freely within the metal (ie ejected from the atom they were bound to) or are they physically ejected from the metal altogether? Is it a combination of the two? On a standard diagram (shown below), they seem to be leaving the metal altogether.
  2. How does this affect the charge of the metal? If electrons are indeed ejected from the metal, I would assume the metal would be positively charged.

enter image description here

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the electrons are actually ejected from the surface of the metal. If the metal is surrounded by a vacuum, the electrons form a cloud close by called a space charge. If there is a positively-charged piece of metal close by, the loose electrons are attracted to it and their flow is called a photoelectric current.

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