need to find wavelength using work function and info that the wavelength of light is to remove one electron from an atom. can i ignore the mass of an electron and just use E=hc/wavelength or do i have to incorporate it into some other formula?

thanks!

You are applying conservation of energy, so if the photon is just able to ionize the atom and remove an electron, it must have an energy equal to the work function. If the electron has any energy left over, that means the photon has more energy

 

In general,

 

[math]\frac{hc}{\lambda} = W + KE[/math]

 

So yes, that's the right equation to use in this case