Why does electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet region represent a larger energy transition than does radiation in the infrared region?
1 Answer
May 7, 2016
I would say for the frequency dependence of the emitted photon during the transition.
Explanation:
During a transition between allowed orbits an electron emits the extra energy in form of a photon of energy:
where:
You can imagine this photon as a packet of energy bigger or smaller depending on the frequency:
The higher the frequency the larger the energy.
UV radiation has higher frequency than infrared so its energy (carried by the correspondent photon) is higher.
A transition that involves a large amount of emitted energy will result in a high frequency photon.
Hope it is not too confusing!