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6.3: Atomic Line Spectra and Niels Bohr

  • Page ID
    168603
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    Rydberg Equation

    Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)

    What is the wavelength of light emitted when an electron in a hydrogen atom undergoes a transition from energy level n = 3 to level n = 1? (c  = 3.00  × 108 m/s, h =  6.63 × 10–34 J·s, RH  =  2.179 × 10–18 J)

    Answer

    102 nm

    \[\frac{hc}{\lambda } = R_{H}\left [(\frac{1}{(n_{1})^{2}})-(\frac{1}{(n_{2})^{2}}) \right ]\]

    \[\frac{(6.63*10^{-34})(3.00*10^{8})}{\lambda }=(2.179*10^{-18})(\frac{1}{1}-\frac{1}{9})\]
    \[\lambda = \frac{1.981*10^{-25}}{1.937*10^{-18}}\]

    \[\lambda = 1.023*10^{-7}\;m\] 

    Exercise \(\PageIndex{2}\)

    The electron in a hydrogen atom, originally in level n = 5, undergoes a transition to a lower level by emitting a photon of wavelength 1583 nm. What is the final level of the electron?  (c  = 3.00  × 108 m/s, h =  6.626 × 10–34 J·s, RH  =  2.179 × 10–18 J)

    Answer

    3

     

    Emission Lines 

    Exercise \(\PageIndex{3}\)

    If a hydrogen atom in the excited n = 5 state relaxes to the ground state, what is the maximum number of possible emission lines?

    Answer

    15


    6.3: Atomic Line Spectra and Niels Bohr is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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