Question
As an electron makes a transition from an excited state to the ground state of a hydrogen – like atom/ion:
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kinetic energy, potential energy and total energy decrease
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kinetic energy decreases, potential energy increases but total energy remains same
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kinetic energy and total energy decrease but potential energy increases
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its kinetic energy increases but the potential energy and total energy decrease
Solution
A.
kinetic energy, potential energy and total energy decrease
As we know that kinetic energy of an electron is
KE ∝ (Z/n)2
when the electron makes the transition from an excited state of the ground state then n, decreases and KE increases. We know that PE is lowest for the ground state. As TE=- KE and TE also decreases.
