Explain how understanding of the atomic emmission spectrum led to developement of the atomic theory.
The emmissions spectrum for each element is unique. You can identify an eleement by its spectrum. The atomic theory states that all atoms of a given element are identical. The emmissions spectrum proves this.
Can you help me add to this or understand more about this? Please.
Thank you.
bigberky
No, not a good answer.
Under the prior atomic theory any orbital was allowed, so any energy change was allowed. If any energy change (emission) was allowed, then there would be continous spectrum. But the emission observed was specific discrete wavelength (energies) were given off....which one can deduce the changes in the orbitals are specific allowed intervals only.
A certain wavelength or frequency corresponds to a certain photon energy which is a certain change of energy of the electron shell around the atom. In other words the frequency tells you how an electron orbit changed.
Of course! I can definitely help you understand more about the connection between the understanding of the atomic emission spectrum and the development of the atomic theory.
In the late 19th century, scientists began studying the behavior of light emitted by different elements. They observed that when an element is subjected to a high-energy source such as heat or an electric current, it emits light which can be passed through a prism to create a spectrum, known as the atomic emission spectrum. This spectrum consists of specific wavelengths of light that are characteristic to each element.
By examining the atomic emission spectra of different elements, scientists noticed that each element produced a unique set of spectral lines. These lines corresponded to specific wavelengths of light that were emitted as electrons within the element's atoms moved between different energy levels. The observation that each element's emission spectrum was distinct provided concrete evidence that atoms of each element were unique and could be identified by their spectral fingerprint.
The understanding of the atomic emission spectrum played a crucial role in the development of the atomic theory. Before this discovery, the atomic theory proposed by John Dalton in the early 19th century suggested that all atoms of a given element were identical. However, the atomic emission spectra challenged this notion by demonstrating that each element had its own characteristic set of spectral lines.
These findings led to the modification and refinement of the atomic theory. It became clear that while all atoms of a given element had identical properties, atoms of different elements had distinct characteristics. This understanding ultimately gave rise to the modern understanding of the atomic theory, which states that elements are made up of individual atoms, and each element has its own unique atomic structure.
In summary, the study of the atomic emission spectrum provided experimental evidence that atoms of each element were unique. This challenged the earlier notion of identical atoms within each element and contributed to the development of the modern atomic theory, which recognizes that atoms of different elements have distinct properties.