While studying the particle in a box in this chapter, you come up with what you think is a brilliant idea. Suppose the electron in the hydrogen atom is modeled like a particle in a one-dimensional box! You look online and learn that the transition from the first excited state of hydrogen to the ground state emits a photon of wavelength 121.6 nm. (a) From this information, you determine the size of the box in which the electron is trapped. (b) After being quite excited about your answer to part (a), because it is on the order of the size of an atom, you predict the wavelength of the transition from the second excited state of the particle in the box in part (a) to the ground state, and compare it to the corresponding wavelength in the hydrogen atom spectrum, 102.6 nm.
