/sci/ - Science & Math

>>15943445
Let's start with Electron Energy Levels. This is basic high school physics. Or Physics 101 if you took chemistry in high school instead of physics.

Sigh, this is tough in a 4chan comment.

Electrons absorb distinct packets of energy in order to promote from a lower energy state to a higher energy state. They ONLY absorb the energy they need to promote and nothing more. They cannot, for example, absorb 1/3 of the energy and enter a midway point between energy levels. It is all or nothing. We therefore state that energy is "quantized" which means it comes in distinct packets of energy. It must be the exact wavelength of light needed to promote. Nothing more, nothing less. It's perfectly quantized. This is where the words "quantum mechanics" comes from because it's based on probabilities and quantum teleportation. Look, this part gets really funky and there's absolutely no way around it and this one reason why we don't go around teaching climate change at the most basic level because it gets involved in quantum mechanics.

When an electron absorbs a photon of energy it promotes to an available energy state, it then returns to the ground state, when it returns to the ground state it can take any path it wants.

Say for example from this picture a hydrogen atom absorbs a photon of light of the exact wavelength necessary to go from a ground state to 12.8 electron volts (eV). After it absorbs that photon of energy it can either release it and go straight back down to the ground state. Or it can fall to 12.1 eV before falling to the ground state. Or it can fall to 10.2 eV before returning to the ground state. Or it can first jump to 12.1 eV, then down to 10.2 eV before falling to the ground state. All those paths are valid and it's completely dependent on probability. Each time it falls down the ladder it releases a photon of energy. When it does it emits a wavelength of light which corresponds to that exact eV. Nothing more, nothing less. It's quantized.