Hydrogen, atom, quantum state spectrum

The discovery of two other series of emission lines of hydrogen came later. They are named for their discoverers the Lyman series in the ultraviolet range and Paschen series in the infrared region. Although formulas were devised to calculate the spectral lines, the physics behind the math was not understood until Niels Bohr proposed his quantized atom. Suddenly, the emission spectrum of hydrogen made sense. Each line represented the energy released when an excited electron went from a higher quantum state to a lower one. 

Tn the Rohr model of the hydrogen atom, the proton is a massive positive point charge about which the electron moves. By placing quantum mechanical conditions upon an otherwise classical planetary motion of the electron, Bohr explained the lines observed in optical spectra as transitions between discrete quantum mechanical energy states. Except for hvperfine splitting, which is a minute decomposition of spectrum lines into a group of closely spaced lines, the proton plays a passive role in the mechanics of the hydrogen atom, It simply provides the attractive central force field for the electron,... 

Although the nucleus of deuterium (the isotope of hydrogen with an atomic mass of 2) has spin quantum states, its magnetogyric ratio is different from that of hydrogen, so it does not appear in a H-NMR spectrum. In addition, spin coupling between deu-... 

The hydrogen atom is the simplest one in existence, and the only one for which essentially exact theoretical calculations can be made on the basis of the fairly well confirmed Coulomb law of interaction and the Dirac equation for the electron. Such refinements as the motion of the proton and the magnetic interaction with the spin of the proton are taken into account in rather approximate fashion. Nevertheless, the experimental situation at present is such that the observed spectrum of the hydrogen atom does not provide a very critical test either of the theory or of the Coulomb law of interaction between point charges. A critical test would be obtained from a measurement of the fine structure of the n = 2 quantum state. 

This system forms highly ionized so-called Penning mixtures [12,13]. The higher excited states of Hj are partly stable and partly unstable, depending on the quantum numbers of the electron present. The stable excited states have, however, only very shallow minima of the potential curves [14]. That is the reason why no spectrum of Hj is observed for the helium plasma jet. The argon excited neutrals, on the other hand, cannot ionize hydrogen atoms or molecules, but could produce excited H2 molecules, which can be detected by optical emission spectroscopy. 

Lyman series A series of lines in the hydrogen atom spectrum that corresponds to transitions between the ground state (principal quantum number n = 1) and successive excited states. 

The spectrum consists of a sequence of equidistant liiUNs, giving us the simplest type of band spectrum. Other transitions than those to the next lower (and next higher) state cannot occur, as follows from correspondence considerations for, as we have already shown in the case of the hydrogen atom, and as we also see here at once, transition to the next quantum state but one, or to the next but two, for high quantum numbers involves the omission of double, or three times, tho ground frequency, i.e. of harmonics. Now, classically, in the Fourier... 

This equation was solved for the hydrogen atom by Vladimir Fock [2,3]. The solution in p space revealed the four-dimensional symmetry responsible for the degeneracy of states with the same n but different I quantum numbers in the hydrogen atom. This is a fine example where the momentum-space perspective led to fresh and deep insight. Fock s work spawned much further research on dynamical groups and spectrum-generating algebras. 

Balmer series - The series of lines in the spectrum of the hydrogen atom which corresponds to transitions between the state with principal quantum number n = 2 and successive higher states. The wavelengths are given by 1/X = Rjj(l/4 - llrE), where n = 3,4,... and R is the Rydberg constant for hydrogen. The first member of the series (w = 2 3), which is often called the line, falls at a wavelength of 6563 A. 

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