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Emission line spectrum question?

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  • 26-05-2017 12:56pm
    #1
    SpitItOut
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 57 ✭✭


    Shouldn't there be more lines in emission line spectra belonging to element with larger numbers of electrons, when compared to elements with less electrons? I'm not saying there isn't - but based on the few I've seen there doesn't seem to be much of a difference in the no. of lines, just that the pattern varies.

    Say if you were to compare lithium to hydrogen. Well first of all, regarding the two electrons of lithium that are in the same shell, shouldn't you get lines in exactly the same places as hydrogen, but with double the intensity? And then you should have extra lines for the movements of the electron in the other shell.

    Doesn't this mean that helium and hydrogen should have the same line patterns?


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    #2
    Morbert
    Registered Users Posts: 3,457 ✭✭✭Morbert


    SpitItOut wrote: »
    Say if you were to compare lithium to hydrogen. Well first of all, regarding the two electrons of lithium that are in the same shell, shouldn't you get lines in exactly the same places as hydrogen, but with double the intensity?

    I'm not sure I understand your reasoning here. Spectral lines report differences in excitation energies, and excitation energies are affected by interactions between electrons as well as interactions between protons and electrions. Since a lithium electron interacts with two other electrons, and the hydrogen electron sees no other electrons, you wouldn't expect their excitation spectra to be the same.


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