Hydrogen spectral series

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 series
2 Balmer series
3 Paschen series
4 Brackett series
5 Pfund series
6 Humphreys series

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] Extension

Hydrogen is the element with the simplest-to-analyze emission spectrum. All other atoms possess at least two electrons in their unionized form and the interactions between these electrons makes analysis of the spectrum by such simple methods as described here impractical. The deduction of the Rydberg formula was a major step in physics, but it was long before an extension to the spectra of other elements could be accomplished.

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Hydrogen spectral series
 This physics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.