Hydrogen spectral series

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In physics, the spectral lines of hydrogen correspond to particular jumps of the electron between energy levels. The simplest model of the hydrogen atom is given by the Bohr model. When an electron jumps from a higher energy to a lower, a photon of a specific wavelength is emitted according to the Rydberg formula:

{1 \over \lambda} = R \left( {1 \over (n')^2} - {1 \over n^2} \right) \qquad \left( R = 10.972 \times 10^6 \mbox{m}^{-1} \right)

where n is the initial energy level and n' is the final energy level, and R is the Rydberg constant.


The spectral lines are grouped into series according to n' :

n'

Series name
1 Lyman
2 Balmer
3 Paschen
4 Brackett
5 Pfund
6 Humphreys


Lyman Series

Balmer Series

n

λ(nm)

n

λ(nm)
2 122 3 656
3 103 4 486
4 97.2 5 434
5 94.9 6 410
6 93.7 7 397
\infty 91.1 \infty 365


Paschen Series

Brackett Series

n

λ(nm)

n

λ(nm)
4 1870 5 4050
5 1280 6 2630
6 1090 7 2170
7 1000 8 1940
8 954 9 1820
\infty 820 \infty 1460


Pfund Series

Humphreys Series

n

λ(nm)

n

λ(nm)
6 7460 7 12372
7 4650 8 7503
8 3740 10 5129
9 3300 11 4673
10 3040 13 4171
\infty 2280 \infty 3282

[edit] See also

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