Question

What happens when an electron moving from the 3rd energy level to the 1st energy level?

Answer 1

Answer:

A photon of wavelength 103 nm is released

Explanation:

When an electron in an atom jumps from a higher energy level to a lower energy level, it releases a photon whose energy is equal to the difference in energy between the two levels.

For example, if we are talking about a hydrogen atom, the energy of the levels are:

$E_1 = -13.6 eV\\E_2 = -3.4 eV\\E_3 = -1.5 eV$

So, the energy of the photon released when the electron jumps from the level n=3 to n=1 is

$\Delta E = E_3 - E_1 = -1.5 -(-13.6)=12.1 eV$

In Joules,

$\Delta E =12.1\cdot 1.6\cdot 10^{-19} = 1.94\cdot 10^{-18} J$

We can also find the wavelength of this photon, using the equation:

$\Delta E = \frac{hc}{\lambda}\rightarrow  \lambda=\frac{hc}{\Delta E}=\frac{(6.63\cdot 10^{-34})(3\cdot 10^8)}{1.94\cdot 10^{-18}}=1.03\cdot 10^{-7} m = 103 nm$