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What is the ratio of energies of Hydrogen in its first excited state and second excited state?

Physics Asked on February 25, 2021

Since Energy of an electron in a particular orbit is given by
$E= -13.6/n^2$ eV
So, I equated the energies in $n=2$ and $n=3$ which are the 1st and 2nd excited states respectively. The answer was 9/4. But since the electron in n=3 is in higher energy state and $n= 2$ in lower energy state, how do I make sense of this answer?

One Answer

Your were calcualting the ratio of

$$ frac{9}{4} = frac{E_infty - E_2}{E_infty - E_3}. $$

Where $E_infty$ is the lowest energy of free electron as the limit of bound energies $n=infty$ $$ E_infty = -frac{13.6}{infty^2} = 0 eV. $$

Answered by ytlu on February 25, 2021

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