121.6 is the shortest wavelength of the lyman series.
121.6 is the shortest wavelength of the lyman series.
what is the shortest wavelength of the lyman series?
121.6
section::::physical background.









































for a neutral hydrogen atom, spectral lines are formed when an electron transitions between energy levels. the lyman series of spectral lines are produced by electrons transitioning between the ground state and higher energy levels (excited states). the lyman-alpha transition corresponds to an electron transitioning between the ground state (n=1) and the first excited state (n=2). the lyman-alpha spectral line has a laboratory, or rest, wavelength of 1216 å, which is in the ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
lyman-alpha forest
lyman continuum photons (abbrev. lyc), shortened to ly continuum photons or lyc photon, are the photons emitted from stars at photon energies above the lyman limit. hydrogen is ionized by absorbing lyc. working off of victor schumann's discovery of ultraviolet light, from 1906 to 1914, theodore lyman observed that atomic hydrogen absorbs light only at specific frequencies (or wavelengths) and the lyman series is thus named after him. all the wavelengths in the lyman series are in the ultraviolet band. this quantized absorption behavior occurs only up to an energy limit, known as the ionization energy. in the case of neutral atomic hydrogen, the minimum ionization energy is equal to the lyman limit, where the photon has enough energy to completely ionize the atom, resulting in a free proton and a free electron. above this energy (below this wavelength), "all" wavelengths of light may be absorbed. this forms a continuum in the energy spectrum; the spectrum is continuous rather than composed of many discrete lines, which are seen at lower energies.
lyman continuum photons