Atomic Emission Spectra

• What are the EM waves

  Radiowaves, Microwave, Infrared, Visible, UV, X-ray, Gamma rays
• If electrons are at their ground state they are?

  At their lowest energy level
• Electrons that take in energy from surrounding are said to be?

  Excited as they can move up to higher energy levels further from the nucleus
• What happens if electrons release energy?

  They drop from a high energy level to a low one

  The energy levels = all have fixed values
• What shows the frequencies of light emitted when electrons drop from high levels to low levels

  A line spectrum/ emission spectrum

  The frequencies appear as coloured lines
• Why is the spectrum for each element unique?

  E element has its own electron arrangement so the frequencies emitted and absorbed are different
• What does emission spectra support?


  The idea of quantum shells
• What are the 4 basic principles when it comes to electron shells?

  • electrons cannot only exist in fixed orbits/shells
  • Electrons have fixed energy
  • When electrons move between shells EM radiation is emitted/ absorbed
  • As the energy of shells are fixed the radiation will have fixed frequency
• What supports the idea that energy levels are discrete and not continuous?

  The emission spectrum of an atom has clear lines - jumps from one energy level to the other doesn't move