ASTR 3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Lyman Series, Balmer Series, Lyman Limit
Document Summary
Astro 3 monday, september 26, 2016: lecture 2. Fraunhoffer lines holes in light spectrum. No electrons allowed between ground and excited state. Electrons make transitions between allowed radii by either absorbing or emitting protons. Absorption and emission are reciprocal processes: upwards transition: absorption, downward transition: emission. Ionization: electron absorbs photon, gains energy, becomes unbound (ionized. Hii) (hii: ionized hydrogen: recombination: electron radiates photon, loses energy, becomes bound (neutral. Lyman series: transitions into and out of ground state: lyman limit: 13. 6 ev (enough energy to become unbound from hydrogen atom) Balmer series: transitions into and out of first excited state: first excited state all the way to outer limit to become unbound. Average lifetime of excited e: 10^(-8) seconds. Fluorescence: electron cascades down energy levels: 60% of time: e goes from 3 level down to 1, 40%: e goes from 3 to 2 to 1. Vibrations and rotations are quantized discrete frequencies.
