ure 4-11: E 1 = 13.

6 eV, E2
n2 = e

-(-

3.39 eV. Hence

= e - 1.18 x 10 5 K/T

3.39+13.6) eV/(8.62 x 10 -5 eV /K)T

n1
Therefore, a significant fraction of the hydrogen atoms will initially be in the first excited state
only when T is not too much smaller than 10 5 K; and only when they absorb from that state
can they produce absorption lines of the Balmer series.
The situation is complicated by the fact that the n = co level is not far above the n = 2 level.
This proximity makes the probability that hydrogen atoms will initially be ionized increase
with increasing temperature about as rapidly as the probability that the atoms will initially be
in their first excited state. But no absorption lines at all can be produced by initially ionized
hydrogen atoms. Detailed calculations predict that the maximum amount of Balmer absorption should be observed when the temperature is about 10 4 K.
Balmer absorption lines are actually observed in the hydrogen gas of some stellar atmospheres. This gives us a way of estimating the temperature of the surface of a star.

4-7 CORRECTION FOR FINITE NUCLEAR MASS

In the previous section we assumed the mass of the atomic nucleus to be infinitely
large compared to the mass of the atomic electron, so that the nucleus remains fixed in
space. This is a good approximation even for hydrogen, which contains the lightest
nucleus, since the mass of that nucleus is about 2000 times larger than the electron
mass. However, the spectroscopic data are so very accurate that before we make a
detailed numerical comparison of these data with the Bohr model we must take into
account the fact that the nuclear mass is actually finite. In such a case the electron and
the nucleus move about their common center of mass. However, it is not difficult to
show that in such a planetarylike system the electron moves relative to the nucleus as
though the nucleus were fixed and the mass m of the electron were slightly reduced
to the value , the reduced mass of the system. The equations of motion of the system
are the same as those we have considered if we simply substitute for m, where
mM
(4-20)

m+M
is less than m by a factor 1/(1 + m/M). Here M is the mass of the nucleus.
To handle this situation Bohr modified his second postulate to require that

the

total orbital angular momentum of the atom, L, is an integral multiple of Planck's constant divided by 221. This is achieved by generalizing (4-15) to
n = 1, 2, 3, ... (4-21)
= nh

vr

Using instead of m in this equation takes into account the angular momentum of the
nucleus as well as that of the electron. Making similar modifications to the rest of
Bohr's derivation for the case of finite nuclear mass, we find that many of the
equations are identical with those derived before, except that the electron mass m is
replaced by the reduced mass . In particular, the formula for the reciprocal wave-

lengths of the spectral lines becomes l

K=RMZ2( 4
\\

.r

Iwhere R M

-m

MM R o = mR

(4-22)

The quantity R M is the Rydberg constant for a nucleus of mass M. As M/m --+ co , it

is apparent that R M + R., the Rydberg constant for an infinitely heavy nucleus which
appears in (4-19). In general, the Rydberg constant R M is less than R oe by the factor
1/(1 + m/M). For the most extreme case of hydrogen, M/m = 1836 and R M is
less

than R oe by about one part in 2000.

If we evaluate RH from (4-22), using the currently accepted values of the quantities

m
,
M
,
a
n
d
h
,

w
e
fi
n
d
R
H
=

1
0
9
6
8
1
0
0
m
7
1
.
C
o
m
p
a
ri
n
g
t
h
is
w
it
h
t
h
e
e
x
p
e
ri
m
e
n
-

t
a
l
v
a
l
u
e
o
f
R
H

g
i
v
e
n
i
n
S
e
c
t
i
o

n 4-4, we see that the Bohr model, corrected for finite nuclear mass, agrees with the
spectroscopic data to within three parts in 100,000!

0
01

CORRECT ION FOR FI NITE N UCLEAR MASS