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The connection between the wavelength and the atom level

Physics Asked on December 19, 2020

In my textbook it said the following:

Photons with wavelengths in the spectral range of $[94mathrm{ nm},104mathrm{ nm}]$, interact the hydrogen atom in the basic state. Photons having those wavelengths can stimulate the hydrogen atom to $n=3,4,5$ levels.

I’m trying to figure out why it’s true. Given some wavelength $lambda$, how can I know which level it can get?

I’m familiar with the Rydberg formula:
$$
frac{1}{lambda_{mto n}}=Rcdotleft(frac{1}{n^2}-frac{1}{m^2}right)
$$

where $m>n$ and $R=1.097cdot10^7 mathrm{m}^{-1}$. But because there are two values $n,m$, I’m struggling to figure out a sophisticated way to find the levels. I could just insert $lambda=94mathrm{ nm}$ and check for each $n$ it’s $m$‘s but it sounds like not so much a sophisticated way. Is there a better way?

One Answer

Most atoms (speaking from a chemistry perspective, other situations may differ) are in or near the ground state. As such it is OK to simply consider (for example) $n = 1,2,3$, and solve those few cases for $m$. Observations will likely be dominated by the $n = 1$ case with a small contribution from the higher levels.

In this case $λ_{m leftarrow 1} = frac{1}{R(1-m^{-2})} = 102 text{ nm}$ for $m = 3$, 97 nm for $m = 4$, etc, as you have seen.

Correct answer by GKFX on December 19, 2020

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