An electron in a hydrogen atom drops from energy level n=5 to n=3. What is the energy transition using the Rydberg equation?
2 Answers
The energy transition will be equal to
So, you know your energy levels to be n = 5 and n = 3. Rydberg's equation will allow you calculate the wavelength of the photon emitted by the electron during this transition
So, you've got all you need to solve for
Since
So, the transition energy for your particular transition (which is part of the Paschen Series) is
A photon of energy
The Rydberg expression for an electronic transition in the hydrogen atom is:
So:
The energy of the photon given by this transition is given by:
Since
So: