Rydberg Equation

[Malia Shitabata 1F]

Do we have to understand the Balmer/Lyman series in relation to n and the Rydberg equation or should we just know which portion of the electromagnetic spectrum it corresponds to?

[Baoying Li 1B]

I think we need to know that the energy level starts from n=1 for Lyman series(UV region) and it starts from n=2 for Balmer series(visible region, 700nm-400nm).

[Ashley Nguyen 2L]

I think we should just know the portion of the EM spectrum it corresponds to. I don't think there will be any in-depth questions on it

[Doreen Liu 4D]

I think we just have to know that the Lyman series corresponds to UV while the Balmer series corresponds to the visible light.

[Malia Shitabata 1F]

I think we need to know that the energy level starts from n=1 for Lyman series(UV region) and it starts from n=2 for Balmer series(visible region, 700nm-400nm).

If a higher frequency is associated with greater energy then why is Balmer n=2 even though visible light has a lower frequency than ultraviolet light (n=1)?

[VPatankar_2L]

The energy gaps between the energy levels of the Balmer series are much smaller than the gaps for the Lyman series, so that's why the frequency produced is also smaller.