PHYS 2004 Lecture Notes - Lecture 29: Bohr Model, Emission Spectrum
Document Summary
Atoms can also move from a lower energy state to a higher energy state by absorbing energy in a collision with an electron or other atom in a process called collisional excitation. The excited atoms soon jump down to lower states, eventually ending in the stable ground state. Implications of the bohr model of the atom. An atom in the ground state will remain there forever. Only photons with frequencies that match the energy intervals between stationary states can be absorbed or emitted. A collision transfers energy to the atom and can kick the atom to an excited state. Absorption wavelengths are a subset of those in the emission spectrum. Each element in the periodic table has a unique spectrum. Different elements, have different number of electrons and thus different stationary states. They will then emit/absorb photons of different wavelengths.