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The Balmer series includes the lines due to transitions from an outer orbit n > 2 to the orbit n' = 2. Named after Johann Balmer, who discovered the Balmer formula, an empirical equation to predict the Balmer series, in 1885. Balmer lines are historically referred to as "H-alpha", "H-beta", "H-gamma" and so on, where H is the element hydrogen. [10]
Here is an illustration of the first series of hydrogen emission lines: The Lyman series. Historically, explaining the nature of the hydrogen spectrum was a considerable problem in physics. Nobody could predict the wavelengths of the hydrogen lines until 1885 when the Balmer formula gave an
The Balmer equation predicts the four visible spectral lines of hydrogen with high accuracy. Balmer's equation inspired the Rydberg equation as a generalization of it, and this in turn led physicists to find the Lyman, Paschen, and Brackett series, which predicted other spectral lines of hydrogen found outside the visible spectrum.
In 1890, Rydberg proposed on a formula describing the relation between the wavelengths in spectral lines of alkali metals. [2]: v1:376 He noticed that lines came in series and he found that he could simplify his calculations using the wavenumber (the number of waves occupying the unit length, equal to 1/λ, the inverse of the wavelength) as his unit of measurement.
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 .
Bohr's derivation of the Rydberg constant, as well as the concomitant agreement of Bohr's formula with experimentally observed spectral lines of the Lyman (n f =1), Balmer (n f =2), and Paschen (n f =3) series, and successful theoretical prediction of other lines not yet observed, was one reason that his model was immediately accepted. [30]: 34
The set of transitions from n ≥ 3 to n = 2 is called the Balmer series and its members are named sequentially by Greek letters: n = 3 to n = 2 is called Balmer-alpha or H-alpha, n = 4 to n = 2 is called Balmer-beta or H-beta, n = 5 to n = 2 is called Balmer-gamma or H-gamma, etc. For the Lyman series the naming convention is:
Balmer limit; Lyman-alpha blob; Lyman-alpha forest; Lyman-break galaxy; Lyman series; Haro 11 - One of the two galaxies in the local universe that 'leaks' Lyman continuum photons. Tololo-1247-232 - The second galaxy in the local universe that 'leaks' Lyman continuum photons. Pea galaxy - Many nearby Green Peas are confirmed LyC 'leakers'. [5 ...