Calculate the maximum wavelength of light capable of removing an electron for a hydrogen atom from the energy state characterized by the following

when n=4

=__________nm

Responses

Chemistry!! - bobpursley, Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 4:05am
So the two energy states are n=4 and n=inf

Use the Rydberg equation, right?

yes this is the right equation- but idk why you use this and why u know from the problem to use 1/infinity...

1 answer

If you REMOVE an electron from hydrogen, you move it to infinity (or at least so far away it may as well be at infinity). But putting infinity into the Rydberg equation gives you 1/infinity for that part of the equation and 1/infinity = 0.