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Using molecular-dynamics simulation, we model the sputtering of a Au (111) crystallite induced by the impact of projectiles with total energies up to 500 keV. Due to the uncertainty of the electronic stopping of Au moving in particular at small velocities, we performed several simulations, in which the electronic stopping parameters are systematically changed. Our results demonstrate the dominating influence of the cut-off energy , below which the high-velocity electronic stopping of atoms is switched off in the simulation. If is smaller than roughly one half the cohesive energy of the target, sputtering ceases after a few ps; the spike contribution to sputtering (also called phase explosion or gas-flow contribution) is entirely quenched and the sputtering yield is up to an order of magnitude smaller than when electronic stopping is taken into account only at higher atom energies. Our results demonstrate the …