Answer:
Color is emitted from an atom when an electron jumps from a higher energy level to a lower energy level
Explanation:
According to Bohr's model of the atom, electrons are arranged into circular orbits, each orbit corresponding to a precise energy level.
In this model of the atom, electrons cannot be between two orbits: this means that the energy level of the atom are discrete, so they can only assume certain values.
As a result, when an electron jumps between two energy levels, it emits/absorbs a photon whose energy is equal to the difference in energy between the two levels.
In particular:
- If an electron jumps from a lower energy level to a higher energy level, it absorbs a photon
- If an electron jumps from a higher energy level to a lower energy level, it emits a photon
The energy of the emitted photon is equal to the difference in energy between the two levels, and it is related to the wavelength [tex]\lambda[/tex] of the photon by
[tex]E=\frac{hc}{\lambda}[/tex]
where h is the Planck's constant and c the speed of light.
For usual gases, the value of the energy E is such that the value of the wavelength [tex]\lambda[/tex] falls within the visible light range of the electronmagnetic spectrums, so we observe light emitted as different colors, depending on the wavelength.
