How can I calculate the excited state energy level?

1 Answer
May 1, 2015

This is only known exactly for the hydrogen-like atoms. Otherwise, it is done experimentally via photoelectron spectroscopy.


For hydrogen-like atoms, i.e. "H"H, "He"^(+)He+, "Li"^(2+)Li2+, etc., the energy levels are given by:

E_n = -Z^2 cdot "13.61 eV"/n^2En=Z213.61 eVn2

where ZZ is the atomic number and nn is the quantum level.

So for "He"^(+)He+, the first excited state energy level would be the 1s^0 2p^11s02p1 configuration:

color(blue)(E_2) = -2^2 cdot "13.61 eV"/2^2E2=2213.61 eV22

= color(blue)(-"13.61 eV")=13.61 eV

And its ground state energy would be:

E_1 = -2^2 cdot "13.61 eV"/1^2E1=2213.61 eV12

= -"54.44 eV"=54.44 eV

So, its first excited state lies "40.83 eV"40.83 eV above its ground state. That matches the electronic energy level difference here from NIST:

![www.physics.nist.gov)

329179 cancel("cm"^(-1)) xx 2.998 xx 10^10 cancel"cm"/cancel"s"

xx 6.626 xx 10^(-34) cancel"J"cdotcancel"s" xx ("1 eV")/(1.602 xx 10^(-19) cancel"J")

= "40.82 eV" ~~ ul("40.83 eV")