Hydrogen Excitation(s) and De-excitation(s)

[mattmartindri]

Hydrogen Excitation(s) and De-excitation(s) via electron beam

Homework Statement

A sample of hydrogen atoms (i'm assuming singular, not molecular hydrogen) is bombarded by a low-energy electron beam (12.0eV).

My question is: with this group of atoms being bombarded, is it possible to excite the electron past the first excitation state (n=2) in a cascading sort of way? After an electron has made the jump to first excited state, could the excited atom(s) be again excited by a follwing electron?

Homework Equations

I'm not even sure.

The Attempt at a Solution

E1-2=-3.40eV - (-13.6eV) = 10.2eV

10.2eV < electron beam energy of 12.0eV

So, the atom can go to the first excited state...but, now I'm lost.

 

[mattmartindri]

never mind, I thought about it for about 3 more minutes and realized how fried I am from this past week.