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questions 8 and 9 are questions based off of the visible spectrum. no numbers ar

ID: 3281061 • Letter: Q

Question

questions 8 and 9 are questions based off of the visible spectrum. no numbers are needed

(http://physics.hist.govr ys value to reduce the number of lines reported by the NIST search. There are a lot of other possible energy levels that could emit light. What is the thermodynamic reason for the simplicity of atomic emission spectra What is the quantum mechanical reason for the simplicity atomic emission spectra? 8. 9. e the line for calcium that would yield the most sensitive atomic emission results

Explanation / Answer

8)
Whenever we are above absolute zero temperature, there are thermal motion in the system. This is basically causes inter-atomic collision due to the thermal motion generated kinetic energy. This knocks charged electrons resulting in electromagnetic radiation. This radiation in visible spectrum range is visible to us. But the spectrum can expand to beyond visible wavelength spectrum as well for example IR spectrum.

9)
According to quantum mechanics electrons have particle wave duality. This means that electrons also behave like waves and they occupy quantised energy levels of the atomic potential. The system always wants to remain in ground state and it has a finite decay time if it is in the excited state. Whenever the electron is excited, it tries to emit the extra energy in form of electromagnetic radiation (photon) and decay down to ground state. Hence there is atomic spectra. This is the quantum mechanical reason. Depending on the difference between the energy levels, the corresponding energetic photon will be emitted as long as selection rules are satisfied for the particular transition between energy levels.