- #1
Kavorka
- 95
- 0
Homework Statement
On the average, a hydrogen atom will exist in an excited state for about 10-8 s before making a transition to a lower energy state. About how many revolutions does an electron in the n = 2 state make in 10^-8 s?
Homework Equations
L = mvr = Iω = nħ
rn = n2a0/Z
The Attempt at a Solution
Finding the angular momentum from ħ and n=2 is just plugging in numbers. Where I'm confused is how to get the number of revolutions from the angular momentum. It would be easy to find if I had ω, but I have no idea how to calculate I in this context. On the other hand, I could find the radius of the orbit from the second equation from a0, n=2 and Z=1. If I had that and the mass of the electron, I could find the electron's velocity. From rn I could also find the circumference of the orbit and calculate the number of revolutions when t = 10-8 s from that. I don't have time to work out the math right now but I will tomorrow and I wanted to post this early. Which approach would be best?