Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Hydrogen-alpha, typically shortened to H-alpha or Hα, is a deep-red visible spectral line of the hydrogen atom with a wavelength of 656.28 nm in air and 656.46 nm in vacuum. It is the first spectral line in the Balmer series and is emitted when an electron falls from a hydrogen atom's third- to second-lowest energy level.
The constant was named by Arnold Sommerfeld, who introduced it in 1916 [2] when extending the Bohr model of the atom. α quantified the gap in the fine structure of the spectral lines of the hydrogen atom, which had been measured precisely by Michelson and Morley in 1887. [a]
For example, the 2 → 1 line is called "Lyman-alpha" (Ly-α), while the 7 → 3 line is called "Paschen-delta" (Pa-δ). Energy level diagram of electrons in hydrogen atom. There are emission lines from hydrogen that fall outside of these series, such as the 21 cm line.
In the simplified Rutherford Bohr model of the hydrogen atom, the Balmer lines result from an electron jump between the second energy level closest to the nucleus, and those levels more distant. Shown here is a photon emission. The 3→2 transition depicted here produces H-alpha, the first line of the Balmer series
Depiction of a hydrogen atom showing the diameter as about twice the Bohr model radius. (Image not to scale) A hydrogen atom is an atom of the chemical element hydrogen.The electrically neutral hydrogen atom contains a single positively charged proton in the nucleus, and a single negatively charged electron bound to the nucleus by the Coulomb force.
Relativistic corrections (Dirac) to the energy levels of a hydrogen atom from Bohr's model. The fine structure correction predicts that the Lyman-alpha line (emitted in a transition from n = 2 to n = 1) must split into a doublet. The total effect can also be obtained by using the Dirac equation.
The nomenclature can also be applied to the hydrogen atoms attached to the carbon atoms. A hydrogen atom attached to an α-carbon is called an α-hydrogen, a hydrogen atom on the β-carbon is a β-hydrogen, and so on. Organic molecules with more than one functional group can be a source of confusion.
Lyman-alpha, typically denoted by Ly-α, is a spectral line of hydrogen (or, more generally, of any one-electron atom) in the Lyman series.It is emitted when the atomic electron transitions from an n = 2 orbital to the ground state (n = 1), where n is the principal quantum number.