How is work function related to oxidation? Low work function metals, such as Li and K, oxidize in ambient conditions, whereas high work function metals such as Au do not oxidize.
In chemistry there's activation energy and reaction rate constants, but how is the oxidation chemistry related to the work function? (they mention that)
 A: Easily oxidizing atoms and ones with a low work function are correlated. In an atom that is easily oxidized, the valence electrons are very weakly bound to the nucleus of the atom for a number of reasons.


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*In a large atom, the large number of electrons provides shielding from the nuclear charge. Therefore the valence electrons experience less force from the nucleus.

*In addition, the larger the atom, the further the valence electrons are away from the nucleus of the atom. Since the force between electric charges decreases with the square of the distance between them, the valence electrons are not bound to the nucleus as tightly.


So these are attributes of metals that are easily oxidized and that have a low work function because for both the photoelectric effect and oxidization, it is beneficial to have weakly bound electrons.
In a way you could view the photoelectric effect as an ionization of a metal lattice. Similarly, the oxidizing metal is ionized although through a different effect.
