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Spectroscopy in Hydrogen Atom?

This may be a little hard to understand, you might need to have a decent knowledge of spectroscopy and physics to understand this question because im not good at explaining it (not cause your stupid or anything)

A hydrogen atom, which consists of a single electron jumps from one energy level to the next depending on the photon it absorbs.

if the electron is on the first energy level, it can go to 2,3,4,5,6.., this is in the ultraviolet section in the spectra called Lyman; alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon.

If the electron is on the 2nd energy level it can transfer to 3, 4, 5, 6..., This part of the spectra is in the visible section and its called Balmer; aplha, beta, gamma, delta.

If the electron is on the third energy level it can go to 4, 5, 6..., this causes absorption lines in the infrared part of the spectra and its known as Pachen; alpha, beta, gamma.

my question is, is that it? does it end at Pachen or is there more?

please explain.

thank you.

1 Answer

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Short answer: No.

    Long Answer: First off I should correct you on one thing, if it is on the second line it can go down to the first line and release a photon. It would still be considered a balmer transition because the name is given to where it starts out so anything starting out on the second level is always a balmer transition no matter where it goes. Now of course you can go from the 3rd to the 4th or the 7th to the 10th or the 148th to the 2390th. There are however no names for them. You should know there are an infinite number of levels so you can't possibly name them all. Only the first few have names purely because they're the most studied and they're named after people who have done a lot of studying on that particular transition. They only name the first six levels. Check out the wiki link below to see more about it.

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