Question

In a hydrogen atom, how might an electron move from one energy level to another?

Answer 1

According to Neils Bohr,

• When light is incident on the atom the electron can absorb energy and is moved to an orbit further from the nucleus. The electron is said to be excited to a higher energy level. The frequency of the light which excites the electron from one energy level to another is exactly equal to the difference in energy of the two levels.
• When an electron falls from a high energy level, an orbit far away from the nucleus, to a lower energy level, an orbit close to the nucleus, light is emitted. The energy of the light emitted is equal to the difference in energy between the two energy levels.

Electrons can jump from one energy level to another.

Electrons must be in one of the allowed energy levels.

• The first energy level= -13.6 eV energy
• The second energy level = -3.4 eV energy

Suppose an electron wants to jump from the first energy level, n = 1, to the second energy level n = 2. The second energy level has higher energy than the first, so to move from n = 1 to n = 2, the electron needs to gain energy by absorbing light. It needs to gain (-3.4) - (-13.6) = 10.2 eV.

If an electron jumps from the second energy level down to the first energy level (n=2 to n=1), it must give off some energy by emitting light. The atom absorbs or emits light in discrete packets called photons. It needs to emit (-13.6) - (-3.4) = -10.2 eV