unit 3 chem vocab

  1. amplitude: the wave’s height from zero to crest

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  1. atomic emission spectrum: frequencies of light emitted by by element separate into discrete lines to give atomic emission spectrum of the element

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  1. atomic orbital: a region of space in which there’s a high probability of finding an electron

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  1. aufbau principle: says that electrons occupy the orbitals of lowest energy first

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  1. electromagnetic radiation: makes up light, includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared waves, visible light, ultraviolet waves, etc…

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  1. electron configurations: ways in which electrons are arranged in various orbitals around the nuclei of atoms

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  1. energy levels: the fixed energies an electron can have

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  1. frequency: represented by the Greek letter nu, the number of wave cycles to pass a given point per unit of time

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  1. ground state: lowest possible energy of the electron

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  1.   Heisenberg uncertainty principle: states that it’s impossible to know exactly both the velocity and position of particle at same time

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  1.   hertz: the SI unit of cycles per seconds

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  1.   Hund’s rule: states that electrons occupy orbitals of the same energy

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  1.   Pauli exclusion principle: says that an atomic orbital may describe two electrons at most

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  1.   photons: light quanta, behave as if they were particles

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  1.   quantum: a quantum of energy is the amount of energy required to move an electron from one energy level to another

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  1.   quantum mechanical model: comes from the mathematical solutions to the Schrodinger equation, restricts energy of electrons to certain values

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  1.   spectrum: when sunlight passes through a prism, the different frequencies separate into a spectrum of colors

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  1.   wavelength: represented by the Greek letter lambda, the distance between the crests

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