Calculate Speed of Recoiling Hydrogen Atom After Transition to Ground State

  • Thread starter Thread starter the armed pacifist
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Energy Energy level
AI Thread Summary
A hydrogen atom transitioning from the n = 4 state to the ground state emits a photon, leading to recoil. The energy difference calculated is 12.75 eV, and the mass to consider is that of a hydrogen atom, approximately equal to the mass of a proton. Conservation of momentum is crucial in this scenario, as the recoil speed can be determined using the emitted photon's energy. The problem can be solved without additional information by applying the principles of conservation of momentum and energy. Understanding these concepts is essential for calculating the speed of the recoiling hydrogen atom.
the armed pacifist
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
A hydrogen atom, initially at rest in the n = 4 quantum state, undergoes a transition to the ground state, emitting a photon in the process. What is the speed (in terms of m/s) of the recoiling hydrogen atom?

anyone knows what to do? i calculated the energy difference and got 12.75 eV and i calculated the potential energy as well, but i don't know which mass to assign the atom...

any help is appreciated...
 
Physics news on Phys.org
(1) What's conserved during the emission?
(2) You can look up the mass of a hydrogen atom!
 
reply

well, that's the thing- the problem doesn't state anything more than I put on there... the mass of a hydrogen atom will be that of 1 proton, but I'm not sure if that's what i should look for...

any thoughts?
 
You don't need any more information to solve the problem. What's the answer to my first question? (Hint: In any kind of "explosion", what's conserved?)
 

Thread 'Errors and significant figures'

I multiplied the values first without the error limit. Got 19.38. rounded it off to 2 significant figures since the given data has 2 significant figures. So = 19. For error I used the above formula. It comes out about 1.48. Now my question is. Should I write the answer as 19±1.5 (rounding 1.48 to 2 significant figures) OR should I write it as 19±1. So in short, should the error have same number of significant figures as the mean value or should it have the same number of decimal places as...
View full post »
Thread 'A cylinder connected to a hanging mass'

Thread 'A cylinder connected to a hanging mass'

Let's declare that for the cylinder, mass = M = 10 kg Radius = R = 4 m For the wall and the floor, Friction coeff = ##\mu## = 0.5 For the hanging mass, mass = m = 11 kg First, we divide the force according to their respective plane (x and y thing, correct me if I'm wrong) and according to which, cylinder or the hanging mass, they're working on. Force on the hanging mass $$mg - T = ma$$ Force(Cylinder) on y $$N_f + f_w - Mg = 0$$ Force(Cylinder) on x $$T + f_f - N_w = Ma$$ There's also...
View full post »

Similar threads

How to calculate gamma ray energies following beta decay?
Replies
12
Views
1K
Bohr Model - Absorbing a Photon with Enough Energy to Ionize the Atom
Replies
4
Views
1K
Total energy of hydrogen at ground state
Replies
11
Views
3K
What is the Frequency of Emitted Radiation from a Moving Hydrogen Atom?
Replies
2
Views
2K
A hydrogen atom transitions from n= 5 state to the ground state
Replies
3
Views
2K
Minimum Kinetic energy of the hydrogen atom
Replies
22
Views
3K
What is the correction to the wavelength of an emitted photon due to recoil?
Replies
4
Views
4K
Hydrogen Emission Spectrum and Electron Energy Levels
Replies
2
Views
2K
Hydrogen atom emitting a photon
Replies
1
Views
12K
Calculate the wavelength when electron transits.
Replies
2
Views
1K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top