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

Marsenne Cabral 1A
Posts: 59
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:19 am

Is the negative symbol in front of the equation just a symbol that there is an energy decrease, and the actual energy of each level is still positive, or is there another explanation?

Ray Guo 4C
Posts: 90
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:15 am

The energy is still positive. It's just a convention to set the energy of free electrons as 0, which makes electrons in atoms have negative values when the formula you mentioned is applied.

AlyssaBei_1F
Posts: 99
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:17 am

The negative sign means the bound electron has lower energy than the free electron. The energy is still positive.

Sarah Zhao 4C
Posts: 64
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:28 am

Negative because the energy of the electron is decreasing but the energy is positive because it is being released as a photon

Erin Nash - 4G
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:27 am

The photon energies are always positive, but the negative signs accounts for the bound electron having a lower energy than a free electron.

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