Can someone explain in detail how to do this problem? What wavelength of radiation will be emitted when an electronin a hydrogen atom jumps from the n=5 to the n=1 principal energylevel? Answer: 95.2 nm When I did the problem, I got -95.2nm. Why is the answerpositve instead of negative? Can someone explain in detail how to do this problem? What wavelength of radiation will be emitted when an electronin a hydrogen atom jumps from the n=5 to the n=1 principal energylevel? Answer: 95.2 nm When I did the problem, I got -95.2nm. Why is the answerpositve instead of negative?
Explanation / Answer
Use equation -E = Efinal - Einitial = E(n=1) -E(n=5) In other words, the difference E(n=1) - E(n=5) is anegative number as energy is released. So I palced minus signin front of E (for which you substitute h x c/)