Lawz Elite Education Center Prepared by Jason Fung

Spectrum and energy level exercise

1. A hydrogen atom undergoes a transition of energy level from the first excited state
to the second excited state.

(i) Is photon emitted or absorbed?

(ii) Find the frequency of the photon.
(iii) Find the wavelength of the photon.
(iv) Which region of the electromagnetic spectrum does the photon belong to?

2. A hydrogen atom is at the −1.5 eV energy level initially.

(i) Show on the diagram all the possible ways it can return to the ground state.
(ii) What is the frequency of the photon(s) emitted?
(iii) What is the wavelength of the photon(s) emitted?

3. The diagram below shows some of the energy levels for a hydrogen atom.
Determine whether a transition of energy level will occur in each of the following
cases.
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(i) A photon of energy 10.2 eV hits a hydrogen atom in the ground state.
(ii) A photon of energy 10.5 eV hits a hydrogen atom in the ground state.
(iii) An electron of energy 10.2 eV hits a hydrogen atom in the ground state.
(iv) An electron of energy 10.5 eV hits a hydrogen atom in the ground state.

4. An electron of energy 10.3 eV hits a hydrogen atom in the ground state. The
energy of the first excited state is −3.4 eV and the energy of the ground state is
−13.6 eV. What is the energy of the electron after the collision?

5. A beam of monochromatic light with wavelength 122 nm is incident on a

hydrogen atom that is at the ground state initially. The energy of a hydrogen atom
in ground state is −13.6 eV.

(i) Explain why absorption of light occurs.

(ii) Find the energy of the final energy state.

6. A beam of monochromatic light with wavelength 654 nm hits a hydrogen atom

that is in the −3.4 eV energy level. Find the energy of the final energy state.

7. A hydrogen atom is hit by a beam of monochromatic light of wavelength 97.5 nm.

The energy of the final energy state is −0.85 eV. Find the energy of the initial
energy state.

8. What is the definition of ionization energy?

9. The energy of a hydrogen atom in ground state is −13.6 eV.

(i) Find the ionization energy of a hydrogen atom in ground state.

(ii) A photon of energy 15 eV hits a hydrogen atom in ground state. Will the
hydrogen atom be ionized?
(iii) An electron of energy 15 eV hits a hydrogen atom in ground state. Will the
hydrogen atom be ionized?

10. Explain why the spectral lines in an emission spectrum produced by a hydrogen
atom are discrete but not continuous.

11. Explain why there are dark lines in an absorption spectrum.

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12. A mercury atom undergoes a transition from the second excited state to the first
excited state. It then undergoes another transition from the first excited state to the
ground state. Compare the wavelength of light emitted in the two transitions.

13. What is the number of possible transitions when an atom returns to the ground
state from the second excited state?

14. The diagram below shows the electronic transitions between different energy
levels in an atom. Which electron transition (𝑃𝑃, 𝑄𝑄, 𝑅𝑅 and 𝑆𝑆) emits
electromagnetic wave of the shortest wavelength?

energy

P
Q R

15. Some of the energy levels of a certain atom are shown below. If transition 𝑋𝑋
gives a yellow line in the spectrum, which transition (𝑃𝑃, 𝑄𝑄, 𝑅𝑅 and 𝑆𝑆) may give a
red line?

Energy
P

X Q

R S

16. The transition of electrons between three energy state in a hydrogen atom results
in three spectral lines. The lowest and highest frequencies of these spectral lines
are 4.58 × 1014 Hz and 2.92 × 1015 Hz respectively. Find the frequency and
wavelength of the third spectral line.
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Past Paper Questions

Lawz Elite Education Center Prepared by Jason Fung
Lawz Elite Education Center Prepared by Jason Fung