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The ground state energy of hydrogen atom is -13.6 eV. What are the kinetic and potential energy of the electron in this state?

Asked in GSEB Board August 2020 · Energy levels and ionisation

• (1) 13.6 eV, 27.2 eV
• (2) -13.6 eV, -27.2 eV
• (3) 13.6 eV, -27.2 eV
• (4) 27.2 eV, -13.6 eV

Step-by-step solution

Why the other options are wrong

• (1) comes from the sizes are right but the potential energy has lost its minus sign; a bound electron's potential energy is negative.
• (2) comes from a kinetic energy of -13.6 eV is impossible; this copies the total energy's sign into the kinetic slot, where K=-E is positive.
• (4) comes from the values sit in the wrong slots: 27.2 eV is the size of the potential energy and -13.6 eV is the total energy, and neither is the kinetic energy.

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