Rydberg constant

[Shannon Lau 14B - 1H]

I was wondering how do we know when we need to use the Hz constant of 3.28984 x 10 ^ 15 Hz? What does Hz stand for and when will we need to/how do we cancel it out? I know we use 1.097x10^7 m for when the question is asking for nm or m but I am not sure for Hz.

[JennyZhu1K]

Hz or Hertz is another way of saying 1/seconds or s^-1. I hope that helps!

[carterwink2K]

The value you provided is actually the Rydberg constant multiplied by c, the speed of light. It has other uses, but you probably will not need it as much. The Hz unit is per second, or s^-1.

[Edwin Montalvo 1G]

We use 3.28984 x 10 ^ 15 Hz to find the change in energy from one energy level to another. This can be found in the Equation Sheet where v = R [1/n^2 - 1 n^2 ], where the first n is the final state. It doesn't necessarily matter which "R" you use as long as you remember that Hz is 1/s, so in this equation, the frequency would also be in Hertz, or s^-1.

[Madison Yee 2B]

It depends on which version of the Rydberg equation you are using. In order to find the frequency of light emitted during an electron transition, you use the equation v = R[1/(n1^2) - 1(n2)^2] where n1 is the final energy level and n2 is the initial energy level. With this equation, you use the Rydberg constant 3.29 * 10^15. If you want to find the wavelength of light emitted during an electronic transition, you would use the equation 1/(lambda) = R[1/(n1^2) - 1(n2)^2]. In this case, R = 1.0974 * 10^7. Hope this helps!