IB Physics SL E.1.3 Atomic energy levels
Practise linking atomic energy-level diagrams to emission and absorption spectra, counting possible photon transitions and states.
- Syllabus
- First assessment 2025
- Objective
- —
- Level
- SL
Exam points
- interpret an energy-level diagram to count how many downward transitions produce emitted photons
- match a line spectrum to a set of discrete levels by linking each line to an energy difference
- explain absorption or emission using electrons moving between discrete levels and photons with energy hf
E.1.3—Atomic energy levels question 1
[Maximum number: 4]
This question is about atomic energy levels.
Question (a)
(a)
Describe the appearance of an atomic absorption spectrum.
[ 1 ]
continuous spectrum crossed by dark lines;
Question (b)
(b)
Explain why the spectrum in (a) provides evidence for quantization of energy in atoms.
[ 3 ]
dark lines formed by the absorption of photons;
the absorbed photons have specific/discreet wavelengths; indicating discreet differences in energy; which can only be explained by existence of energy levels;
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