Calculating Remaining Kinetic Energy After Excited State

[fball558]

Excited state??

Homework Statement

Initially a hydrogen atom is in its ground stat. An electron with kinetic energy 10.6 eV collides with the atom and excites it. What is the remaining kinetic energy of the electron?

A. 13.6
B. 23.9
C. 3.0
D. .4
E. .6

the answer is .6 eV but not sure how they got this.
im reviewing for an exam so any help would be great.

i was thinking this has something to do with the equation

E = (-13.6 eV)/(n^2)
but don't know how to use this in this case??

 

[RoryP]

well the 13.6 represents the ionisation energy for hydrogen, and n represents the orbital number =]

 

[fball558]

well the 13.6 represents the ionisation energy for hydrogen, and n represents the orbital number =]

yeah i got that part, but where does the 10.6 eV come into play?
in the equation the only unknown you could possibly solve for is the n or E. but ground state meand n = 1 right so E would just be -13.6

 

[RoryP]

Nooo the 13.6 is the total amount of energy you would need to excite an electron from ground state to leaving the atom completely! Hence ionization energy :)