  The effect of an oscillating electric field normal to a metallic surface may
be described by an effective potential. This induced potential is calculated
using semiclassical variants of the random phase approximation (RPA). Results
are obtained for both ballistic and diffusive electron motion, and for two and
three dimensional systems. The potential induced within the surface causes
absorption of energy. The results are applied to the absorption of radiation by
small metal spheres and discs. They improve upon an earlier treatment which
used the Thomas-Fermi approximation for the effective potential.
