A certain atom has a doubly degenerate ground state and an upper level of four degenerate states at 450 cm−1 above the ground level. In an atomic beam study of the atoms it was observed that 30 per cent of the atoms were in the upper level, and the translational temperature of the beam was 300 K. Are the electronic states of the atoms in thermal equilibrium with the translational states? In other words, does the distribution of electronic states correspond to the same temperature as the distribution of translational states?

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A certain atom has a doubly degenerate ground state and an upper level of four degenerate states at 450 cm−1 above the ground level. In an atomic beam study of the atoms it was observed that 30 per cent of the atoms were in the upper level, and the translational temperature of the beam was 300 K. Are the electronic states of the atoms in thermal equilibrium with the translational states? In other words, does the distribution of electronic states correspond to the same temperature as the distribution of translational states?

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