Spectra and Energy Levels

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The diagram shows the entire electromagnetic spectrum
All three scales are logarithmic – do not go up in equal
steps, but in equal ratios
Every number is ten times bigger than the adjacent smaller
one
The diagram shows the regions of the electromagnetic
spectrum described by wavelength, frequency and by
photon energy (in eV) 3
 Line spectra
The spectrum is from a sodium
street lamp – it is a line spectrum.
It has a few wavelengths only.
There are about 90 different lines
in this spectrum, only the 7
brightest lines are shown.
Why does the light appear yellow when the spectral lines
are evenly spread across the visible range?
Because most of the lines are relatively faint, over 98%
of the energy is given out by 2 spectral lines of
wavelength 589.0 nm and 589.6 nm. (too close to
separate – appear as a slightly thicker yellow line)

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 What causes line spectra?
Line spectra always observed when atoms have been
excited (heated or by electrical discharge)
Energy is given to electrons, which then is released as light
Line spectra are caused by changes in energy of the
electrons. Large complicated atoms like Neon give very
complex line spectra (many electrons).
Line spectrum of the simplest possible atom, hydrogen, was
investigated first (only one electron) – see below

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 Hydrogen spectrum
Observation of a hydrogen discharge tube through a
diffraction grating produces just 4 sharp lines.
4 wavelengths are:
656 nm, 486 nm, 434 nm and 410 nm (in the visible region)
More spectral lines were discovered in the invisible UV
and IR regions that are also similarly grouped.

Each is named after the physicist who investigated it,

Lyman series in the UV, Balmer series in the visible
region, Paschen and Brackett in the IR region.
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 Photon energies
Need to look at photon energies instead of wavelengths
to see the cause.
Calculate the photon energy of the 656 nm line in the
hydrogen spectrum. Speed of light, c = 3 x 108 ms-1, and
the Plank constant h = 6.6 x 10-34 Js.
E = hc/λ = 3 x 108 ms-1 x 6.6 x 10-34 Js / 656 x 10-9 m
= 3.03 x 10-19 J
As 1.6 x 10-19 J = 1 eV then 3.03 x 10-19 J = 1.9 eV
Repeating this calculation for the other spectral lines,
gives following photon energies (in eV) for the first few
lines in Lyman and Balmer series.

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