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Rydberg constant
In spectroscopy, the Rydberg constant, symbol for heavy atoms or for hydrogen, named after the Swedish physicist
Johannes Rydberg, is a physical constant relating to the electromagnetic spectra of an atom. The constant first arose as an empirical
fitting parameter in the Rydberg formula for the hydrogen spectral series, but Niels Bohr later showed that its value could be
calculated from more fundamental constants via his Bohr model.
Before the redefinition of the SI base units in 2019, and the electron spin g-factor were the most accurately measured physical
constants.[1]
The constant is expressed for either hydrogen as , or at the limit of infinite nuclear mass as . In either case, the constant is
used to express the limiting value of the highest wavenumber (inverse wavelength) of any photon that can be emitted from a hydrogen
atom, or, alternatively, the wavenumber of the lowest-energy photon capable of ionizing a hydrogen atom from its ground state. The
hydrogen spectral series can be expressed simply in terms of the Rydberg constant for hydrogen and the Rydberg formula.
In atomic physics, Rydberg unit of energy, symbol Ry, corresponds to the energy of the photon whose wavenumber is the Rydberg
constant, i.e. the ionization energy of the hydrogen atom in a simplified Bohr model.
Contents
Value
Rydberg constant
Rydberg unit of energy
Rydberg frequency
Rydberg wavelength
Occurrence in Bohr model
Precision measurement
Alternative expressions
References
Value
Rydberg constant
where
The Rydberg constant for hydrogen may be calculated from the reduced mass of the electron:
where
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The Rydberg unit of energy is equivalent to joules[3] and electronvolts[4] in the following manner:
Rydberg frequency
[5]
Rydberg wavelength
In the simplest version of the Bohr model, the mass of the atomic nucleus is considered to be infinite compared to the mass of the
electron,[6] so that the center of mass of the system, the barycenter, lies at the center of the nucleus. This infinite mass approximation
is what is alluded to with the subscript. The Bohr model then predicts that the wavelengths of hydrogen atomic transitions are (see
Rydberg formula):
where n1 and n2 are any two different positive integers (1, 2, 3, ...), and is the wavelength (in vacuum) of the emitted or absorbed
light.
where and M is the total mass of the nucleus. This formula comes from substituting the reduced mass of the
electron.
Precision measurement
The Rydberg constant is one of the most precisely determined physical constants, with a relative standard uncertainty of under 2
parts in 1012.[2] This precision constrains the values of the other physical constants that define it.[7]
Since the Bohr model is not perfectly accurate, due to fine structure, hyperfine splitting, and other such effects, the Rydberg constant
cannot be directly measured at very high accuracy from the atomic transition frequencies of hydrogen alone. Instead, the
Rydberg constant is inferred from measurements of atomic transition frequencies in three different atoms (hydrogen, deuterium, and
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antiprotonic helium). Detailed theoretical calculations in the framework of quantum electrodynamics are used to account for the
effects of finite nuclear mass, fine structure, hyperfine splitting, and so on. Finally, the value of is determined from the best fit of
the measurements to the theory.[8]
Alternative expressions
The Rydberg constant can also be expressed as in the following equations.
where
The last expression in the first equation shows that the wavelength of light needed to ionize a hydrogen atom is 4π/α times the Bohr
radius of the atom.
The second equation is relevant because its value is the coefficient for the energy of the atomic orbitals of a hydrogen atom:
.
References
1. Pohl, Randolf; Antognini, Aldo; Nez, François; Amaro, Fernando D.; Biraben, François; Cardoso, João M. R.; Covita, Daniel S.;
Dax, Andreas; Dhawan, Satish; Fernandes, Luis M. P.; Giesen, Adolf; Graf, Thomas; Hänsch, Theodor W.; Indelicato, Paul;
Julien, Lucile; Kao, Cheng-Yang; Knowles, Paul; Le Bigot, Eric-Olivier; Liu, Yi-Wei; Lopes, José A. M.; Ludhova, Livia; Monteiro,
Cristina M. B.; Mulhauser, Françoise; Nebel, Tobias; Rabinowitz, Paul; Dos Santos, Joaquim M. F.; Schaller, Lukas A.;
Schuhmann, Karsten; Schwob, Catherine; Taqqu, David (2010). "The size of the proton". Nature. 466 (7303): 213–216.
Bibcode:2010Natur.466..213P (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010Natur.466..213P). doi:10.1038/nature09250 (https://doi.or
g/10.1038%2Fnature09250). PMID 20613837 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20613837). S2CID 4424731 (https://api.semantic
scholar.org/CorpusID:4424731).
2. "2018 CODATA Value: Rydberg constant" (https://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?ryd). The NIST Reference on Constants,
Units, and Uncertainty. NIST. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
3. "2018 CODATA Value: Rydberg constant times hc in J" (https://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?rydhcj). NIST. The NIST
Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
4. "2018 CODATA Value: Rydberg constant times hc in eV" (https://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?rydhcev). NIST. The NIST
Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
5. "2018 CODATA Value: Rydberg constant times c in Hz" (https://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?rydchz). NIST. The NIST
Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
6. Coffman, Moody L. (1965). "Correction to the Rydberg Constant for Finite Nuclear Mass". American Journal of Physics. 33 (10):
820–823. Bibcode:1965AmJPh..33..820C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1965AmJPh..33..820C). doi:10.1119/1.1970992 (http
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rydberg_constant 3/4
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s://doi.org/10.1119%2F1.1970992).
7. P.J. Mohr, B.N. Taylor, and D.B. Newell (2015), "The 2014 CODATA Recommended Values of the Fundamental Physical
Constants" (Web Version 7.0). This database was developed by J. Baker, M. Douma, and S. Kotochigova. Available:
http://physics.nist.gov/constants. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899. Link to R∞ (http://physi
cs.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?ryd), Link to hcR∞ (http://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?rydhcev). Published in Mohr, Peter J.;
Taylor, Barry N.; Newell, David B. (2012). "CODATA recommended values of the fundamental physical constants: 2010". Reviews
of Modern Physics. 84 (4): 1527–1605. arXiv:1203.5425 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1203.5425). Bibcode:2012RvMP...84.1527M (http
s://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012RvMP...84.1527M). doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.84.1527 (https://doi.org/10.1103%2FRevModPh
ys.84.1527). S2CID 103378639 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:103378639)"" and Mohr, Peter J.; Taylor, Barry N.;
Newell, David B. (2012). "CODATA Recommended Values of the Fundamental Physical Constants: 2010". Journal of Physical
and Chemical Reference Data. 41 (4): 043109. arXiv:1507.07956 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1507.07956).
Bibcode:2012JPCRD..41d3109M (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012JPCRD..41d3109M). doi:10.1063/1.4724320 (https://do
i.org/10.1063%2F1.4724320)"".
8. Mohr, Peter J.; Taylor, Barry N.; Newell, David B. (2008). "CODATA recommended values of the fundamental physical constants:
2006". Reviews of Modern Physics. 80 (2): 633–730. arXiv:0801.0028 (https://arxiv.org/abs/0801.0028).
Bibcode:2008RvMP...80..633M (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008RvMP...80..633M). doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.80.633 (http
s://doi.org/10.1103%2FRevModPhys.80.633).
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