Elements atomic spectrum

The spectrum of the Sun contains the absorption lines associated with the atomic spectrum of heavier elements such as Fe (Figure 4.2), which indicates that the Sun is a second-generation star formed from a stellar nebula containing many heavy nuclei. The atomic spectra of heavier atoms are more complex. The simple expression for the H atom spectrum needs to be modified to include a quantum defect but this is beyond the scope of this book. Atomic spectra are visible for all other elements in the same way as for H, including transitions in ionised species such as Ca2+ and Fe2+ (Figure 4.2). 

To produce this type of atomic emission in a pyrotechnic system, one must produce sufficient heat to generate atomic vapor in the flame, and then excite the atoms from the ground to various possible excited electronic states. Emission intensity will increase as the flame temperature increases, as more and more atoms are vaporized and excited. Return of the atoms to their ground state produces the light emission. A pattern of wavelengths, known as an atomic spectrum, is produced by each element. This pattern - a series of lines - corresponds to the various electronic... 

Elements heated by a flame glow their characteristic color. This is commonly called a flame test and is used to test for the presence of an element in a sample. When viewed through a spectroscope, the color of each element is revealed to consist of a pattern of distinct frequencies known as an atomic spectrum. 

Atomic spectrum The pattern of frequencies of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the atoms of an element, considered to be an elements fingerprint. ... 

In order to determine the absorption column Nn, the above model was fitted to the average spectra. As the result, the spectra A and B gave Nu-values both approximately equal to 102K H atoms/cm2 for the cosmic abundances of element. The spectrum C is insensitive to determine the N -value uniquely. However, we assume the same form of the hard component also during the January flare, because the hard component is likely to be independent of the soft component. We therefore fixed the Nn at 102S H atoms/cm2, and performed fitting to the spectrum C. The intensity of the hard component was dealt with as a free parameter. 

The lines of primary interest in an xps spectrum are those reflecting photoelectrons from core electron energy levels of the surface atoms. These are labeled in Figure 8 for the Ag 3s, 3p, and 3d electrons. The sensitivity of xps toward certain elements, and hence the surface sensitivity attainable for these elements, is dependent upon intrinsic properties of the photoelectron lines observed. The parameter governing the relative intensities of these core level peaks is the photoionization cross-section, q. This parameter describes the relative efficiency of the photoionization process for each core electron as a function of element atomic number. Obviously, the photoionization efficiency is not the same for electrons from the same core level of all elements. This difference results in variable surface sensitivity for elements even though the same core level electrons may be monitored. 

Modern atomic theory received a shot in the arm when it was recognized that the individual atom has light absorption and emission spectra occurring at narrow lines of the spectrum at specific wavelengths, as opposed to the broad bands typical of the polyatomic molecules and compounds. Since the line spectrum of each element is characteristic of that element, atomic spectroscopy can be used for precise elementary analysis of many types of chemically simple and complex materials. These studies make use of the wave character of light, as well as light s particle character. 

The fact that excited atoms give off specific colors and not a rainbow of colors suggested to Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist, that electrons are permitted in only certain locations within the atom. These locations are called energy levels. Each element behaves in its own unique way when excited by heat or electricity and produces a very specific pattern of lines of color called the atomic spectrum of that element (Figure 8.5). This unique chemical fingerprint is the foundation of atomic spectroscopy, a method of analysis used by forensic and medical laboratories to identify elements... 

What is at least one cause of each element having a unique atomic spectrum ... 

Just as the Rutherford model of the atom developed in 1911 was scientifically startling with its revelation of the atom as mostly empty space, so was the Bohr model of the atom introduced in 1913 with its definition of the location of the electron within the atom. As Bohr and others realized that the atomic spectrum of each element is caused by electrons changing energy levels, a different picture of the atom emerged. The new picture of the atom had electrons at various energy levels within the empty space of Rutherford s model (Figure 8.6). This space can still be said to be empty because the mass of the electrons is extraordinarily small in comparison with that of the whole atom. 

Atomic Spectra The emission spectrum of elements consists of discrete sharp lines having different wavelength separated by dark bands is called atomic spectrum. It is characteristic of an element. Each element has a characteristic pattern of lines. 

Recall that hydrogen s atomic emission spectrum is discontinuous that is, it is made up of only certain frequencies of light. Why are elements atomic emission spectra discontinuous rather than continuous Niels Bohr, a young Danish physicist working in Rutherford s laboratory in 1913, proposed a quantum model for the hydrogen atom that seemed to answer this question. Impressively, Bohr s model also correctly predicted the frequencies of the lines in hydrogen s atomic emission spectrum. 

Between 1912 and 1925, Bohr s theory of the atom gave rise to a conceptual framework for the study of matter on many fronts. Applying the theory to predict the energy levels and therefore the emission frequencies of atoms more complicated than hydrogen—say, helium with two electrons, lithium with three, and so on— led to the concept of electronic shells about the nucleus, the outer shell less tightly bound, and it is these outer-shell electrons that determine the element s spectrum. It should be pointed out that the theory was not fully successful in predicting the spectral lines of the elements that are more complicated than hydrogen. 

The principle of atomic absorption analysis (AAS) is based on the fact that atoms absorb radiation at the same wavelength at which they emit. The sample is atomized in the light path of a radiation source emitting the atomic spectrum of the analysed element, and the extent of absorbed radiation (absorbance) is proportional to the concentration of the element. 

The ET AAS technique (see Fig. 5.2) is based on fast evaporation of samples to be analysed in a miniature tube furnace (6-8 mm in diameter and 20-30 mm in length) made of graphite [5]. A light beam from the source of a line spectrum (usually a hollow cathode lamp) passes through this tube and the value of the light absorption by free atoms of analyte is measured. A grating monochromator is used to separate the most sensitive resonance line from the atomic spectrum of the element emitted by the light source. 

The distribution of the spectral lines of each individual element is not random. It was discovered first empirically and also later shown theoretically that the wavelengths of the lines of the simple atomic spectra can be fitted to simple series formulae with great accuracy. Furthermore, many of the lines in the simple spectra occur in small groups which are called multiplets, such as doublets of the alkali metals or triplets of the alkaline earths. There is also a constant difference between the wavenumbers of the two components of some doublets or two of the three components of some triplets. For example, the two lines of each doublet are separated by 17 cm" in the atomic spectrum of sodium (Table 3). This has been shown by Ritz to be a direct consequence of a general rule named the combination principle. According to this principle, for each atom or molecule there is a set of spectral terms... 

---