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NAAP Hydrogen Energy Levels – Pedagogical Objectives



Basics

  • Student will understand the relationship between wavelength, frequency, and energy of a photon and correctly use the terminology “proportional to” and “inversely proportional to”.
  • Student will know the constituents of matter, their electric charges, and locations within the atom and that hydrogen is the simplest atom consisting of only a proton and an electron.
  • Student will understand than an electron in an atom is bound – that it has negative energy and that positive energy must be added to free it.

Bohr Model

  • Student will understand that a bound electron has only certain permitted energies corresponding to orbits in the Bohr Model.
  • Student will understand the limitations of the Bohr Model and that a correct interpretation of thy hydrogen atom requires quantum mechanics.

Energy Levels

  • Student will understand that an electron can jump to a higher energy level by absorbing a photon with the correct energy difference between the levels and drop to a lower level by emitting a photon equal to the energy difference of the levels.
  • Student will understand that the atom will become ionized if the electro absorbs a photon with energy greater than the binding energy of its present level.
  • Student will understand that collisions between atoms can also cause the electron to move to higher level.
  • Student will understand that the distribution of energy levels in a grouping of hydrogen atoms depends on their temperature.