Why Is the Balmer Series More Commonly Seen than Other Hydrogen Emission Series?

[Jules18]

I keep seeing the hydrogen emission spectrum from the Balman series (when an electron falls to n=2). It's all over my textbook.
Why don't I ever see the Lyman series or any other series?

Is it really rare for hydrogen electrons to fall to energy levels other than n=2?

 

[Bob S]

Only the Balmer series is visible. The Lyman series is UV, and the Paschen series is IR. If you have a good spectrometer, compare hydrogen to the deuterium spectrum.

 

[Jules18]

Thanks.

 

[Vanadium 50]

It takes a very good spectrometer to distinguish hydrogen from deuterium. A decent Eschelle will do it, but the sort of thing you will find in a Chem 101 lab probably won't.

 

[Dadface]

I love the names...Lyman, Balmer,Paschen, Bracket,Pfund and Humphreys.We need one more to make the magnificent seven.How about Dilbert?