Why do some lines fall off the right or left of the axis?

The horizontal axis is a fixed linear window in nanometers. Many infrared Paschen lines lie beyond 900 nm and appear clipped at the edge; ultraviolet Lyman lines shorter than 90 nm are clipped on the left. The numeric readout still reports the true vacuum wavelength from the formula.

Hydrogen: Balmer / Lyman Lines

Emission wavelengths of atomic hydrogen follow the Rydberg formula 1/λ = R_H (1/n_f² − 1/n_i²) with n_i > n_f for transitions down to a lower level. The simulator uses the conventional hydrogen Rydberg constant R_H ≈ 1.0967758×10⁷ m⁻¹ (reduced-mass corrected). You choose a named series by fixing n_f (Lyman: 1, Balmer: 2, Paschen: 3) and an upper principal quantum number n_i. The canvas maps several transitions in the series as vertical bars on a linear wavelength axis from about 90 nm to 900 nm, with the selected line highlighted. Energy differences can be read as ΔE = hc/λ in eV using the displayed value.

Who it's for: High school and first-year university students connecting Bohr-style quantum jumps to observed spectral lines.

Key terms

Rydberg Formula
Lyman Series
Balmer Series
Paschen Series
Hydrogen Spectrum

How it works

Hydrogen emission wavelengths from the Rydberg formula 1/λ = R_H (1/n_f² − 1/n_i²) with textbook series names (Lyman, Balmer, Paschen).

Frequently asked questions

Why do some lines fall off the right or left of the axis?: The horizontal axis is a fixed linear window in nanometers. Many infrared Paschen lines lie beyond 900 nm and appear clipped at the edge; ultraviolet Lyman lines shorter than 90 nm are clipped on the left. The numeric readout still reports the true vacuum wavelength from the formula.

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