Explain how electrons can absorb and emit light to move among different energy levels within an atom. Can the light of any wavelength be absorbed or emitted by atoms?
Explain how electrons can absorb and emit light to move among different energy levels
within an atom. Can the light of any wavelength be absorbed or emitted by
atoms?
Electrons are fundamental subatomic particles consisting an atom. Electrons are negatively charged and a free electron can absorb and emit any frequency.
However, in an atom, an electron is not free and occupy specific energy levels. They are bound to the atom and they can only have very specific, discrete energy levels.
Thus an electron can absorb energy of specific magnitudes in form of photons and then they are termed as excited electrons. These excited electrons can move to higher levels and also by releasing the absorbed energy, they can return to lower levels. As a theory, it is said that a electron continuously radiate energy, then it would eventually collapse into the nucleus.
Thus in this way, an electron moves through various levels by absorbing and releasing energy.
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