Chapter 5: Problem 21
Why do different elements display different patterns of lines in their spectra?
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Chapter 5: Problem 21
Why do different elements display different patterns of lines in their spectra?
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(a) Can a hydrogen atom in the ground state absorb an \(\mathrm{H}\)-alpha \(\left(\mathrm{H}_{\alpha}\right)\) photon? Explain why or why not. (b) Can a hydrogen atom in the \(n=2\) state absorb a Lyman-alpha \(\left(\mathrm{L}_{a}\right)\) photon? Explain why or why not.
Obtain a glass prism (or a diffraction grating, which is probably more readily available and is discussed in the next chapter) and look through it at various light sources, such as an ordinary incandescent light, a neon sign, and a mercury vapor street lamp. Do not look at the sun! Looking directly at the Sun causes permanent eye damage or blindness. Do you have any trouble seeing spectra? What do you have to do to see a spectrum? Describe the differences in the spectra of the various light sources you observed.
Use the Staryy Night Enthusiast \({ }^{\text {TM }}\) program to examine the temperatures of several relatively nearby stars. First display the entire celestial sphere (select Guides \(>\) Atlas in the Favourites menu). You can now search for each of the stars listed below. Open the Find pane, click on the magnifying glass icon at the left side of the edit box at the top of the Find pane, select Star from the menu that appears, type the name of the star in the edit box and click the Enter (Return) key. (i) Altair; (ii) Procyon; (iii) Epsilon Indi; (iv) Tau Ceti; (v) Epsilon Eridani; (vi) Lalande 2118.5. Information for each star can then be found by clicking on the Info tab at the far left of the Stary Night Enthusiast \(^{\mathrm{TM}}\) window. For each star, record its temperature (listed in the Info pane under Other Data). Then answer the following questions. (a) Which of the stars have a longer wavelength of maximum emission \(\lambda_{\max }\) than the Sun? Which of the stars have a shorter \(\lambda_{\max }\) than the Sun? (b) Which of the stars has a reddish color?
What is meant by the frequency of light? How is frequency related to wavelength?
The equation that relates the frequency, wavelength, and speed of a light wave, \(v=c / \lambda\), can be rewritten as \(c=v \lambda . \mathrm{A}\) friend who has studied mathematics but not much astronomy or physics might look at this equation and say: "This equation tells me that the higher the frequency \(v\), the greater the wave speed \(c\). Since visible light has a higher frequency than radio waves, this means that visible light goes faster than radio waves." How would you respond to your friend?
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