1.

A rigorous quantum-mechanical calculation shows that in a hydrogen atom a transition between two sublevels of the fundamental state (see the previous problem) results in the emission or absorption of photons corresponding to a wavelength of 21.1 cm. Experiment is in excellent agreement with this result (to 11 significant figures!). Making use of classical concepts, try to find the wavelength corresponding to the transition between two sublevels of the ground state of a hydrogen atom, and compare the result with the actual wavelength.

Answer»


Solution :The transition from the upper to the lower sub-level of the GROUND state in hydrogen results in the emission of a photon with an energy `epsi_(PH)=epsi_(1).-epsi_(1)..=2|epsi_(mag)|`. The corresponding wavelength is
`lamda=(hc)/(epsi_(ph))=(4pihca_(0)^(3))/(4mu_(0)mu_(p)mu_(e))=(4pixx6.62xx10^(-34)xx3.00xx10^(8)xx5.29^(3)xx10^(-33))/(4xx4pixx10^(-7)xx1.41xx10^(-26)xx9.28xx10^(-24))=0.56m=56cm`
It FOLLOWS that the classical calculation does not produce the CORRECT wavelength, but the order of magnitude is right.


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