7. Particles, Waves, and     Paradoxes   Previous PageNext Page
    Atoms, Energy, and Radiation


In the energy diagram for a hydrogen atom at the far right, the vertical lines marked a, b, c,... represent transitions from the lowest energy level, n = 1, to various higher levels.

A certain fraction of atoms at any given temperature already will be in the first excited state (i.e. n = 2) and these atoms can absorb radiation as indicated by vertical lines g, h, i,...and go to even higher states.

Those few atoms already in an n = 3 state can absorb radiation as shown by lines l, m, n,... and the progression can continue.

Each of these series of absorptions, starting with a different initial quantum state, has an upper limit, which is the energy needed to ionize the atom. These are shown as lines x, y, and z for absorptions from n = 1, 2, and 3 to n = .

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