Multiple choice general knowledge science & technology

An excited atom decays to its ground state and emits a photon of green light. If instead, the atoms decays to an intermediate state, then the light emitted could be:

  1. Violet

  2. White

  3. Blue

  4. Red
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Photon energy is inversely proportional to wavelength - larger energy jumps produce shorter wavelength (higher energy) light. Green light results from a large energy drop from excited to ground state. An intermediate drop represents a smaller energy change, so it must have longer wavelength than green.

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