Question

2. Electron A falls from energy level X to energy level Y and releases blue light. Electron B falls from energy level Y to energy level Z and releases red light. Which transition, from X to Y or from Y to Z, has a greater energy difference? Explain your answer and how you arrived at it. Use a diagram of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Answer 1

What do you think?

Answer 2

For a given photon, its frequency, f, times is wavelength, lambda, is equal to the speed of light,
\[c=f\lambda\]
\[f=\frac{c}{\lambda}\]
and its energy is given by
\[E_{photon}=hf=h\frac{c}{\lambda}\]
where h is Planck's constant.

using the wavelength values from the electromagnetic spectrum, compare the energy of a red photon versus a blue photon. The photon with the greatest energy will be emitted from the transition with the greatest energy difference ^_^ (hint: since the wavelength is in the denominator, the photon with the smaller wavelength will have the higher energy).