Lyman and Balmer Series Significance

[Yuting Zhu 3D]

I understand how both Lyman and Balmer Series are special groups of lights that matches with the energy level difference. But could someone explain more about it for me? Why is it Significant? What kind of problems will ask you to use the properties of these two series?

[Emilie Hoffman 1E]

The most basic reason why they are important is because of what these values/groupings mean in the evaluation of other elements or molecules. So it's more of a "these people happened to be connected to the experiments that found that hydrogen reacted to these set of wavelengths" in terms of the actual naming of each series, as hydrogen technically has an infinite number of wavelengths it reacts to. Why I think they are so emphasized is because they characterize the first two energy states and their regular transitions (example: from n=1 to n=2) and these findings make up the basis for other evaluations of different elements that have more complex makeups than hydrogen.

That was really long winded but anyway hopefully that provides you with more information.

[Nora Sharp 1C]

Here's my idea of a question you might get that would involve the series. If course I have no way of knowing exactly what will be asked on future exams but here's my idea:

The Balmer Series and the Lyman Series both correspond to certain types of electromagnetic radiation. The Balmer series includes visible light while the Lyman Series corresponds to emitted UV light. Let's say you get a question that gives you the energy of a photon in a wavelength of light, and you are asked to calculate the wavelength. The question might then ask you what series that wavelength corresponds to. If the wavelength is within the spectrum of visible light, you'll know that your answer should be the Balmer Series.

[004734229]

I would agree with the Balmer series should always be around the visible light spectrum since that where we identify it as and the Lymann will always be int he UV spectrum. However, will we need to use the other series also mentioned in class for any future tests?

[Nora Sharp 1C]

I'm not sure about that. We should either ask if we need to know them or memorize them to be safe.