Why do Atoms Stay in Lowest Potential Energy State?

[MotoPayton]

I have a question that I couldn't find in my textbook.

Say for example a hydrogen atom. If it is excited the electron will jump to a higher quantum level and as it relaxes it will release a photon proportional to the potential energy gained in the higher quantum level...

My question is why is hydrogen always said to be in the 1s phase if the electron can be technically be in an infinite amount of quantum levels?

My question applies to the rest of the elements. Are all electron structures applying to the atom in its lowest possible potential energy state?

I'm trying to get my head wrapped around this stuff.

Thanks

 

[Ygggdrasil]

Hydrogen is in the 1s state because it is the lowest energy state. For hydrogen and almost all other atoms and molecules, the difference in energy between the ground electronic state and the first excited electronic state is much greater than the thermal energy available at room temperature, so the first electronic state is inaccessible unless you add some energy to the system (for example as a photon).

 

[alxm]

Just a nit-pick: You shouldn't use use "potential energy" in that context. The difference between levels is the difference in the total electronic energy, which includes both potential and kinetic energy (electrons move!).

It's not even change in the energy of the single excited electron - because they all interact with (repel) each other, and will do so a bit differently when one of the electrons is in an excited state. So a small part of the excitation energy is going to other electrons. (If you think about the popular analogy of energy states as a ladder, where the excited electron is moved up to a higher rung, you could extend this to imagining that when you change your rung, the ladder will bend a bit differently, and so all the other rungs will also change slightly)