Calculating wavelength help?
Calculate the wavelength, in nanometers, of the spectral line produced when an electron in a hydrogen atom undergoes the transition from the energy level n = 7 to the level n = 2.
____nm
Calculate the wavelength, in nanometers, of the spectral line produced when an electron in a hydrogen atom undergoes the transition from the energy level n = 7 to the level n = 2.
____nm
1 Answer
Answer below
Explanation:
The energy for an electron in the hydrogen atom is given by:
We'll just calculate the different between n=7 and n=2, or
Just a note here. The change in energy is negative. This is not some weird kind of negative energy, but rather just means direction. Energy is leaving the system, is "exothermic", if you want to think of it in those terms, but the energy leaves as a photon of light. So, for