The Zeeman effect was instrumental in allowing physicists tomanipulate the way e

Question

The Zeeman effect was instrumental in allowing physicists tomanipulate the way electrons
orbited atoms. The effect of this manipulation is to split thespectral lines. The spectral lines are
split because…
a) a magnetic force can slightly shift the color of a photon.
b) the magnetic force attracts some gas atoms and repelsothers.
c) the magnetic force alters the way electrons move in atoms.
d) the magnetic force splits photons.
Please explain yourreasoning in at least 3--5 complete sentences. I'll ratelifesaver!

Explanation / Answer

The Zeeman effect is the splitting of a spectral line intoseveral components in the presence of a static magnetic field. Itis analogous to the Stark effect, the splitting of a spectral lineinto several components in the presence of an electric field. In most atoms, there exist several electronic configurationsthat have the same energy, so that transitions between differentpairs of configurations correspond to a single spectral line.Thepresence of a magnetic field breaks the degeneracy, since itinteracts in a different way with electrons with different quantumnumbers, slightly modifying their energies.Therefore,the spectrallines are split because the magnetic force alters the way electronsmove in atoms.

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