Electron transition question

Paige Lee 1A
Posts: 136
Joined: Sat Sep 07, 2019 12:16 am

Electron transition question

In the hydrogen atomic spectrum, what is the wavelength of light associated with the n=4 to n=1 electron transition? What part of the EM spectrum is this wavelength?

I keep getting -9.73*10^-8m, could someone please explain how to get the correct answer?

Sahil Jog 1F
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2019 12:16 am

Re: Electron transition question

Your answer is correct, however it needs to be positive since the Rydberg's equation is 1/(lambda) = R(1/(nf)^2 - 1/(ni)^2), where nf means n final or 1, and ni means n initial or 4. The correct answer would be 9.73*10^-8m, which translates to 97.3 nm. Any wavelength less than 200nm would not be under the visible light spectrum, but most likely be under the UV spectrum, since a jump from n=4 to n=1 would be the Lyman series.

Jessica Castellanos
Posts: 102
Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2019 12:17 am
Been upvoted: 1 time

Re: Electron transition question

I got the value +9.73*10^-8 m which is UV light. The problem is that you should have made the energy negative since energy is being emitted (the UV light), so the equation you plug in for energy should be -hc/wavelength. Doing this will give you +9.73*10^-8 m. I hope this helps!