## En=-hR/n^2

H-Atom ($E_{n}=-\frac{hR}{n^{2}}$)

sallina_yehdego 2E
Posts: 75
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2018 3:00 am

### En=-hR/n^2

Why is this equation negative again? I know Professor Lavelle mentioned this in class, but can someone please refresh it to me?

Tiffany_Cacy_3D
Posts: 70
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:24 am

### Re: En=-hR/n^2

I believe the reason that this equation is negative is because all free electrons (when they are not near something) have a value of zero joules and because bound electrons have a lower energy then free electrons the bound electrons have to be less than zero (or negative).

Posts: 57
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:27 am

### Re: En=-hR/n^2

The negative in this equation is due to the idea of the answer being energy lost. This is also the same amount of energy that a photon has in this situation. A photon in the experiment would have the same amount of energy as the energy lost from the electron.

Ryan Troutman 4L
Posts: 68
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:22 am

### Re: En=-hR/n^2

Dr. Lavelle answered this during lecture 3, which he said that if you start at a high energy level and you keep going down the different levels, energy is being lost until you get to n=0 where the electron is separated completely. So the negative stems from the loss of energy that occurs as you go from high energy levels to low energy levels.