What is balmers series
Answers
The Balmer series is the name given to a series of spectral emission lines of the hydrogen atom that result from electron transitions from higher levels down to the energy level with principal quantum number 2.
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BALMER SERIES
Lines corresponding to n₂ = 3,4,5,...............∞ to n₁ = 2 constitute Balmer series. The wave numbers of different lines are given by:
v(bar) = 1/λ R[1/2² - 1/n₂²]
(i) Line corresponding to transition n₂ = 3 to n₁ = 2 in first line. Wavelength corresponding to this transition is maximum. Line corresponding to transition n₂ = ∞ to n₁ = 2 is last line; wavelength of last line is minimum.
1/λmax = R[1/2² - 1/3²] ∴ λmax = 6559 À
1/λmin = R[1/2² - 1/∞²] ∴ λmin = 3664 À
(ii) Balmer series lies in the visible region of electromagnetic spectrum. The wavelength of Lα line is 656.8 nm (red). The wavelength of Lβ is 486 nm (blue green). The wavelength of Lγ is 434 nm (violet). The remaining lines of Balmer series are close to violet light wavelength. The speciality of these lines is that in going from one end to other, the brightness and the separation between them decreases gradually.
(iii) This series is obtained only in emission spectrum. Absorption lines corresponding to Balmer series do not exist, except extremely weakly, because very few electrons are normally in the state n = 2 and only a very few atoms are capable of having an electron knocked from the state n = 2 to higher states. Hence photons that correspond to these energies will not be strongly absorbed. In highly excited hydrogen gas there is a possibility of detecting absorption at Balmer-line wavelengths.