light spectrum questions?

Question

1. what causes light to be emitted from an atom?

2. why are only certain wavelengths emitted from atom?

3.Why does hydrogen emit different wavelengths of light than mercury?


thanks first one with all 3 answers get best answer.

Answer 1

1. An electron that relaxes from an outer energy state to a inner state releases energy in the form of a photon -- light.

2. Each state is separated by an exact amount of energy -- no more, no less--which corresponds to an exact wavelength of light. This states are mathematically predicted by solving for the eigenvalues of the relevant Schrodinger equation.

3. Similar to 2, except that relaxation from one energy level to another is different for different materials and is very different at different levels. Mercury has many more electrons than hydrogen, so its electron relaxation occurs from levels of a different valency.

Answer 2

1) Light is released when electrons jump from a higher energy state to a lower energy state and release the extra energy as a photon.

2) Each energy state is fixed. For light E = hv, thus, the wavelength is directly dependant on the energy.

3) As you look at atoms with larger atomic numbers, the lower energy shells are filled, thus the electrons that get excited start in a higher energy state. The difference from the non-excited state to the excited state is different based on this, and therefore the wavelength of light emitted is different.

Answer 3

Well, you got fairly good answers but either you did not read them or are not fully satisfied. So, here we go:

1. The light or other electromagnetic radiation is emitted from the electrons (though gamma rays are emitted from the nucleus - that is another story). Energy is emitted when the electron moves from a higher energy state to a lower energy state. It goes from the lower energy state to a higher energy state by absorbing energy and then emits the energy by falling back to the lower energy state. Thus flame emission and arc emission, spark emission spectra are obtained.

2. The electron levels or orbits (shells) are quantised as explained. Only definite energy levels are allowed. So, energy can be absorbed or released only in definite amounts. These lines (in a spectrograph) are called characteristic lines since they are characteristic of the element emitting or absorbing). Continuous spectrum is obtained by the aceleration or slowing down of electrons which are free, i.e. unbound.

3. As already explained, each atom has different electron configurations and thus emit different characteristic lines.

Answer 4

Mercury Emission Spectrum Wavelengths

Answer 5

an atom emits or absorbs a photon when an electron jumps up or down an energy level. only certain energy levels are allowed (in other words, the energy levels are "quantized"), and since energy is related to wavelength, only certain wavelengths can be emitted. different atoms have different "spectra", or allowed energy levels. thus different atoms will emit different wavelengths of light.

Answer 6

1) the cause of light being emmited is due to the release of energy from the atom
2)the energy emited from the atom can only be emitted in a certain wavelength
3) the reason is that the potential energy in Hydrogen (H) is less than that of Mercury(Hg) due to the electron count

Answer 7

1. When an electron takes in energy and finally gets enough to jump orbital levels, it releases light.

2. Because each element has different electron configurations and requires diff amounts of energy to release a photon.

3. See question 2. Hydrogen has one electron, Mercury has many more.