The only visible spectral lines of hydrogen are the four Balmer series lines noted at the beginning of Section 7.3. We wish to cause hydrogen gas to glow with its characteristic visible colors.
(a) To how high an energy level must the electrons be excited?
(b) Energy is absorbed in collisions with other particles. Assume that after absorbing energy in one collision, an electron jumps down through lower levels so rapidly that it is in the ground state before another collision occurs. If an electron is to be raised to the level found in part (a), how much energy must be available in a single collision?
(c) If such energetic collisions are to be effected simply by heating the gas until the average kinetic energy equals the desired upward energy jump, what temperature would be required? (This explains why heating is an impractical way to observe the hydrogen spectrum. Instead, the atoms are ionized by strong electric fields, as is the air when a static electric spark passes through.)
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