Table of Contents
- 1 How does the number of electrons affect the emission spectrum?
- 2 How are the lines in the emission spectrum of hydrogen related to electron energy levels?
- 3 Why are the spectra of the elements line spectra and not continuous spectra?
- 4 What events within the electron shells of an atom do the lines in an emission spectrum of an element represent?
- 5 What is the number of spectral lines in a hydrogen spectrum?
- 6 Why are line spectra different for each element?
How does the number of electrons affect the emission spectrum?
Emission spectra can have a large number of lines. The number of lines does not equal the number of electrons in an atom. When we expose a gas to photons of all wavelengths, each electron in the gas may absorb a photon with exactly the right energy to excite it into the next possible energy level.
What do the lines on an emission spectrum represent?
What do the individual lines in a bright line emission spectrum represent? They represent the wavelengths of light that is absorbed by the spectrum They represent the energy that the atom gives off when their electrons are in place. They also represent frequency and energy.
Each frequency of light is associated with a particular energy by the equation: The higher the frequency, the higher the energy of the light. If an electron falls from the 3-level to the 2-level, red light is seen. This is the origin of the red line in the hydrogen spectrum.
What can the number of spectral lines tell us?
From spectral lines astronomers can determine not only the element, but the temperature and density of that element in the star. The spectral line also can tell us about any magnetic field of the star. The width of the line can tell us how fast the material is moving. We can learn about winds in stars from this.
Why are the spectra of the elements line spectra and not continuous spectra?
Atomic spectra also known as line spectra. Atomic spectra are discontinuous because the energy levels of electrons in atoms are quantized. The electrons in an atom can have only certain energy levels. There is no middle ground.
How do line spectra differ from continuous spectra?
There is a continuous and line spectrum. A continuous spectrum consists of all wavelengths within a certain range. This spectrum looks like a rainbow. In contrast, a line spectrum only consists of a few wavelengths.
What events within the electron shells of an atom do the lines in an emission spectrum of an element represent?
The lines in an emission spectrum occur when the electron loses energy, “falls back”, from a higher energy state to a lower one emitting photons at different frequencies for different energy transitions.
What causes the lines in these spectra Why are the colors of the lines different?
The different colors are a result of varying energies of transition for different states. Hydrogen has only a single transition while calcium has multiple transitions resulting in more complicated spectral lines.
What is the number of spectral lines in a hydrogen spectrum?
Therefore, the number of spectral lines for hydrogen atoms are infinite.
How many spectral lines does hydrogen have?
The electron energy level diagram for the hydrogen atom. He found that the four visible spectral lines corresponded to transitions from higher energy levels down to the second energy level (n = 2).
Why are line spectra different for each element?
As the energy levels have different values, each of the possible electron transitions within an atom will produce a photon with a different energy. As a result each produces photons with different energy and so the line spectra for different elements will be different.