# Atomic Electron Transition Intervals

1. Mar 12, 2015

### Symmetry777

Are there any charts (information) concerning the elements and Atomic Electron Transition intervals? Does each element have a time it takes from absorption to the time of re-emission?

Concerning Spectral Lines are the result of interaction between a quantum system (atoms) and a single photon.

When a photon has about the right amount of energy to allow a change in the energy state of the system (in the case of an atom this is usually an electron changing orbitals, the photon is absorbed.

Then it will be re-emitted either in the same frequency as the original or in a cascade, where the sum of the energies of the photons emitted will be equal to the energy of the one absorbed (assuming the system returns to its original state).

2. Mar 12, 2015

### Staff: Mentor

I guess you are after the lifetime of excited states. Each excited state has its own lifetime, so you won't get a single answer for a given element. In the NIST Handbook of Basic Atomic Spectroscopic Data, you will find Einstein coefficients for spontaneous emission ($A_{ik}$) for many excited states.

Is there a question in there?

3. Mar 12, 2015

### Staff: Mentor

Note that a lifetime does not mean that the transition cannot happen earlier. They is no "minimal waiting time".

4. Mar 12, 2015

### Symmetry777

No, that was for clarity.