Question about the photoelectric effect

Okay, I understand that if you have 2 sources of light, A and B, which have the same frequency (high enough to liberate electrons), the one with greater intensity will liberate more electrons (because there are more photons hitting the metal).

But what if:

You have 2 sources of light that have the same intensity. They both have a frequency high enough to liberate some electrons but source A has higher frequency than source B. Will source A be able to liberate more electrons that source B? If so, is this because electrons are situated in different parts of the metal and the electrons on the surface need less energy to be liberated (so both sources A and B will be able to liberate them) but the ones deeper in the metal will need more energy so only source A liberates them (therefore source A liberates more electrons)?? Or is this totally wrong.

Thanks!

Good, question. The answer to your question is no. Intensity, as you said, is the number of photons hitting the metal per second, liberating more electrons per second as the intensity increases. But again as you said if there is not enough energy per photon to liberate and electron, it won't be liberated. In your hypothetical question there are two photons of equal intensity meaning (if they both have enough energy to liberate electrons from a photosentitive metal) an equal number of electrons are ejected per unit time. But each has a different frequency, what happens in this situation. The answer is in this equation E = hf. E = the energy of a photon, h plancks constant and f the frequency. So the different sources of light will contain photons with different amounts of energy. All this energy is provided to the electron, causing it to be ejected, any extra energy is converted into kinetic energy by the electron. So as one source has a higher frequency then the other it will provide the electron with more kinetic energy. And yes you were kind of totally wrong with your assumption all though that can be true in some times. But hypothetically if all electrons are emitted from the surface, one source will emit electrons with greater kinetic energy then the other. There is an equation to find this energy and it has to do with a work function, if you want more information about this, you can just email me and I can explain it.