Question:medium

Enunciate the postulates of Bohr\'s model for the hydrogen atom. Show the spectral lines in the (i) emission and (ii) the absorption spectrum corresponding to the transition of hydrogen atom from \(n = 1\) to \(n = 3\) energy states.
OR
What is mass-energy conservation law? A neutron disintegrates into a proton, a \(\beta\)-particle and an antineutrino. The disintegration process is: \[ {}_{0}n^{1} \rightarrow {}_{1}H^{1} + {}_{-1}\beta^{0} + \bar{\nu} \] Find out the energy produced in this process in MeV. (Mass of neutron \(= 1.6747\times10^{-27}\) kg, Mass of proton \(= 1.6725\times10^{-27}\) kg, Mass of electron \(= 9.1\times10^{-31}\) kg.)

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Use Bohr\'s three postulates - non-radiating orbits, \(mvr=nh/2\pi\), and \(h\nu=E_i-E_f\) - and count 3 emission vs 2 absorption lines. For the OR part use \(E=\Delta m\,c^{2}\) with \(\Delta m = m_n-(m_p+m_e)\).
Updated On: Jul 10, 2026
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Solution and Explanation

Option 1: Bohr atom explained through orbit relations and photon wavelengths

Step 1: Bohr assumed that the hydrogen electron can occupy only discrete non-radiating circular orbits (stationary states). The Coulomb pull equals the centripetal requirement, \( \frac{1}{4\pi\varepsilon_0}\frac{e^{2}}{r^{2}}=\frac{mv^{2}}{r} \), which fixes the speed on each orbit.
Step 2: He further restricted the orbits by quantising angular momentum, \(mvr = n h/2\pi\). Combining this with Step 1 gives quantised radii \(r_n \propto n^2\) and quantised energies \(E_n = -13.6/n^2\) eV, so the levels are \(E_1=-13.6\), \(E_2=-3.4\), \(E_3=-1.51\) eV.
Step 3: Radiation appears only during a jump, and the photon carries exactly the energy gap, \(h\nu = |E_i - E_f|\), equivalently \(\frac{1}{\lambda}=R\left(\frac{1}{n_f^2}-\frac{1}{n_i^2}\right)\). This third postulate is what turns discrete levels into sharp spectral lines.
Step 4 (Counting the lines): Working between the three levels n = 1, 2, 3, the number of distinct photon energies equals the number of level pairs, \(\binom{3}{2}=3\). So the emission spectrum shows three lines produced by the downward jumps \(3\to2\) (energy \(1.89\) eV, visible), \(3\to1\) (\(12.09\) eV, UV) and \(2\to1\) (\(10.2\) eV, UV).
Step 5: A cold hydrogen gas sits in the ground state n = 1, so it can only soak up photons that lift it upward. The two allowed upward jumps \(1\to3\) and \(1\to2\) remove exactly those two photon energies from a white beam, leaving two dark absorption lines. Thus emission = 3 lines, absorption = 2 lines.
Step 6 (Sketch): Ladder of levels with n = 1 at the bottom; downward arrows for the three emission lines and upward arrows from n = 1 for the two absorption lines.

Option 2: Neutron decay energy using the atomic-mass-unit method

Step 1: Einstein\'s relation \(E=mc^2\) says any loss of rest mass in a reaction is liberated as kinetic energy of the products; the total mass-energy before and after the decay must balance. Here the neutron is slightly heavier than proton plus electron, and that surplus mass is released.
Step 2: Treat the antineutrino as massless. The lost mass is \(\Delta m = m_n - m_p - m_e\). Plugging the data, \(\Delta m = 1.6747\times10^{-27} - 1.6725\times10^{-27} - 9.1\times10^{-31}\).
Step 3: \(\Delta m = 2.2\times10^{-30} - 0.91\times10^{-30} = 1.29\times10^{-30}\) kg.
Step 4 (Switch to amu): Using \(1\ \text{u}=1.66\times10^{-27}\) kg, \(\Delta m = \dfrac{1.29\times10^{-30}}{1.66\times10^{-27}} = 7.77\times10^{-4}\) u.
Step 5 (Use 1 u = 931 MeV): Energy released \(E = \Delta m \times 931\ \text{MeV} = 7.77\times10^{-4}\times931\).
Step 6: \(E \approx 0.72\ \text{MeV}\), which agrees with the \(E=\Delta m c^2\) value of \(0.726\) MeV found by the direct method.
\[\boxed{E \approx 0.72\ \text{MeV}}\]
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