Practice portal › Atoms › Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom

To excite the hydrogen atom from its ground state to the second excited state, _____ eV energy is required.

Asked in GSEB Board March 2020 · Energy levels and ionisation

• (1) 12.09
• (2) 3.4
• (3) 1.51
• (4) 13.6

Step-by-step solution

Why the other options are wrong

• (2) 3.4 eV is the size of the energy of the first excited state, |E₂|=(13.6)/4 — the energy of one level, not the gap the atom has to climb.
• (3) 1.51 eV is |E₃|=(13.6)/9, the energy of the second excited state itself; the atom needs the difference E₃-E₁.
• (4) 13.6 eV removes the electron altogether (ionisation, n→∞), which is more than is needed to reach n=3.

Reading this solution needs no sign-in. You only sign in to practise against the clock and keep your progress.