When an electron in a hydrogen atom is in the n = 3 state, is it on average closer to, farther from, or the same distance to the nucleus than in the ground state?

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Physics

Isiah Lowery

1 November, 13:52

When an electron in a hydrogen atom is in the n = 3 state, is it on average closer to, farther from, or the same distance to the nucleus than in the ground state?

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Danna · Answer 1

When an electron in a hydrogen atom is in the n = 3 state, is it on average farther from the nucleus than in the ground state.

The hydrogen atom has one electron, therefore, the ground state of the hydrogen is at n=1 which is closest to the nucleus. When the hydrogen atom gains sufficient amount of energy, it is excited to higher energy levels (n=2 and n=3) which are relatively far from the nucleus when compared to the ground state. When the excited hydrogen atom loses energy, it returns back to the ground state.