## Rydbergs Equation

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

Leslie Almaraz 4G
Posts: 99
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2019 12:16 am

### Rydbergs Equation

I know that Lavelle mentioned that he prefers us to not use the Rydberg equation; however, I wasn't exactly sure why he wants us to use a different equation. Can someone help me out?

Wendy 1E
Posts: 111
Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2019 12:17 am
Been upvoted: 2 times

### Re: Rydbergs Equation

Use the equation that Lavelle gave us in the lecture E=(-hR/n^2) as the Rydberg equation. Lavelle didn't want us to use a different version of this equation that was given in the textbook, which is v=R{(1/n^2)-(1/n^2)}. He said that if we use this equation, we will just be plugging in numbers and we won't understand the concept. But, if we use the equation that he gave us in the lecture, we will understand where the numbers and constants are coming from.

Esha Chawla 2E
Posts: 108
Joined: Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:17 am

### Re: Rydbergs Equation

Wendy Perez 3A wrote:Use the equation that Lavelle gave us in the lecture E=(-hR/n^2) as the Rydberg equation. Lavelle didn't want us to use a different version of this equation that was given in the textbook, which is v=R{(1/n^2)-(1/n^2)}. He said that if we use this equation, we will just be plugging in numbers and we won't understand the concept. But, if we use the equation that he gave us in the lecture, we will understand where the numbers and constants are coming from.

Exactly- and I understand where he's coming from. By using the version of the equation he gave us in class, we calculate the energy required to be at n1 and then we calculate the energy required to be at n2. Then, by calculating difference in energy, we understand the energy of the incident radiation required. All of this critical reasoning is circumvented if we use the modified textbook version of the equation (no matter how much easier the math is for the textbook version!).

AArmellini_1I
Posts: 107
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2019 12:15 am

### Re: Rydbergs Equation

Lavelle also wanted to emphasized how we are subtracting the lower energy level from the higher energy level (such as n=2 - n=1), and how the positive value is expressed as emitted light at unique frequencies, which in emphasized by using his formula.