IB

Chemistry
2.5. Hydrogen atom spectrum
Origin of light
Light, electricity, and magnetism are manifestations of the same thing called electromagnetic
radiation.

Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation within the portion of the electromagnetic

spectrum that can be perceived by the human eye.
Electromagnetic radiation
The energy you see coming out of the computer screen you are using to read this page is
made of fluctuating electric and magnetic energy fields. The electric and magnetic fields
oscillate at right angles to each other and the combined wave moves in a direction
perpendicular to both of the electric and magnetic field oscillations. This energy also comes
in many forms that are not detectable with our eyes such as infrared (IR), radio, X-rays,
ultraviolet (UV), and gamma rays.
Electromagnetic waves
Light dispersion
Dispersion, the separation of visible light into a spectrum, may be accomplished by means of
a prism or a diffraction grating. Each different wavelength or frequency of visible light
corresponds to a different color , so that the spectrum appears as a band of colors ranging
from violet at the short-wavelength (high-frequency) end of the spectrum through indigo,
blue, green, yellow, and orange, to red at the long-wavelength (low-frequency) end of the
spectrum. In addition to visible light, other types of electromagnetic radiation may be spread
into a spectrum according to frequency or wavelength.
Spectroscopy
A spectrum may be continuous, or may comprise bright lines (an emission spectrum), or dark lines (an
absorption spectrum) superimposed on a background. If the light source contains all possible wavelengths (e.g.
white light) then a continuous spectrum results (e.g. a rainbow).
Continuous spectra
A continuous spectrum results when the gas pressures are higher, so that lines are
broadened by collisions between the atoms until they are smeared into a continuum. We
may view a continuum spectrum as an emission spectrum in which the lines overlap with
each other and can no longer be distinguished as individual emission lines.
Line Spectra
Emission spectra are produced by passing electrical
or thermal energy through gases in which the
atoms do not experience many collisions (because
of the low density). The emission lines correspond
to photons of discrete energies that are emitted
when excited atomic states in the gas make
transitions back to lower-lying levels.

An electron orbit a nucleus in a stable energy level.

If a photon of a specific frequency interacts with the
electron, it can gain sufficient energy to "jump up"
one or more levels. The photon is absorbed by the
electron so cannot continue on to be detected by an
observer. The electron then "de-excites" and jumps
back down to a lower energy orbit, emitting a
photon of specific frequency. This photon, however,
could be emitted in any direction, not just in the
same direction as the original incident photon.
Absorption spectra
An absorption spectrum occurs when light of all wavelengths passes through a cold, dilute gas
and atoms in the gas absorb at characteristic frequencies. As the re-emitted light is unlikely to
be emitted in the same direction as the absorbed photon, this gives rise to dark lines
(absence of light) superimposed on the continuous spectrum. This phenomenon is used in
Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) for trace analysis of ions in solution.
All in all ...
Emission Spectrum of Hydrogen
When an electric current is passed through a glass tube that contains hydrogen gas at low
pressure the tube gives off blue light. When this light is passed through a prism (as shown in
the figure below), four narrow bands of bright light are observed against a black background.
Hydrogen Atom Spectrum
We all know that electrons in an atom or a molecule absorb
energy and get excited, they jump from a lower energy level to a
higher energy level and they emit radiation when they come back
to their original states. This phenomenon accounts for the
emission spectrum through hydrogen too, better known as
the hydrogen emission spectrum.
For HL