Essential University Physics, 3e (Wolfson)

Chapter 36 Atomic Physics

36.1 Conceptual Questions
1) If two electrons in an atom have the same energy, then they must have the same four quantum
numbers.
A) true
B) false
C) They cannot both have the same energy.
Answer: B
Var: 1

2) If two electrons in the same atom have the same four quantum numbers, then they must have
the same energy.
A) true
B) false
C) They cannot both have the same four quantum numbers.
Answer: C
Var: 1

3) Consider the four quantum numbers of an electron in an atom, n, l, ml, and ms. The energy of
an electron in an isolated atom depends on
A) n only.
B) n and l only.
C) n, l, and ml only.
D) l, ml, and ms only.
E) all four quantum numbers.
Answer: A
Var: 1

4) For each value of the principal quantum number n, what are the possible values of the electron
spin quantum number ms? (There may be more than one correct choice.)
A) 0
B) +1/2
C) -1/2
D) +3/2
E) -3/2
Answer: B, C
Var: 1

5) Which of the following are characteristics of laser light? (There may be more than one correct
choice.)
A) It is coherent.
B) It is produced by an inverted population of atoms.
C) It contains a full spectrum of wavelengths.
Answer: A, B
Var: 1
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36.2 Problems
1) An electron in a hydrogen atom is in the n = 7 shell. How many possible values of the orbital
quantum number l could it have?
A) 6
B) 7
C) 15
D) 33
E) 98
Answer: B
Var: 1

2) An electron in a hydrogen atom has orbital quantum number l = 7. How many possible values
of the magnetic quantum number ml could it have?
A) 6
B) 7
C) 15
D) 33
E) 98
Answer: C
Var: 1

3) An electron in a hydrogen atom has principal quantum number n = 4. How many possible
values of the orbital quantum number l could it have?
A) 8
B) 9
C) 3
D) 4
E) 10
Answer: D
Var: 1

4) An electron in a hydrogen atom has orbital quantum number l = 4. How many possible values
of the magnetic quantum number ml could it have?
A) 4
B) 10
C) 5
D) 9
E) 3
Answer: D
Var: 1

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5) If the orbital quantum number is l = 4, which one of the following is a possible value for the
principal quantum number n?
A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4
E) 8
Answer: E
Var: 1

6) If the principal quantum number of an electron is n = 5, which one of the following is NOT an
allowed magnetic quantum number ml for the electron?
A) 0
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4
E) 5
Answer: E
Var: 1

7) If an electron has spin quantum number ms = -

what is the possible value for the orbital

quantum number l of the electron?

A) 0
B) 1
C) 2
D) 11
E) All of the above numbers are possible.
Answer: E
Var: 1

8) In the ground state, the quantum numbers (n, l, ml, ms) for hydrogen are, respectively
A) 1, 1, 1, 1
B) 1, 0, 0, 0
C) 1, 0, 0,
D) 1, 1, 1,
E) 1, 1, 0,
Answer: C
Var: 1

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9) The binding energy of the hydrogen atom in its ground state is -13.6 eV. What is the energy
when it is in the n = 5 state?
A) 2.72 eV
B) -2.72 eV
C) 0.544 eV
D) -0.544 eV
E) -68 eV
Answer: D
Var: 1

10) What is the energy of an incident photon that is just enough to excite a hydrogen atom from
its ground state to its n = 4 state?
A) 12.75 eV
B) 10.20 eV
C) 3.40 eV
D) 0.85 eV
Answer: A
Var: 3

11) How fast must a hydrogen atom be traveling for its kinetic energy to be just enough to excite
the ground-state atom to its first excited state in a collision? (1 eV = 1.60 10-19 J, mH
mproton = 1.67 10-27 kg)
A) 44.2 km/s
B) 21.7 km/s
C) 66.5 km/s
D) 113 km/s
E) 51.0 km/s
Answer: A
Var: 1

12) What is the minimum speed needed by a ground-state hydrogen atom for its kinetic energy to
be enough to ionize the atom in a collision? (1 eV = 1.60 10-19 J, mH mproton = 1.67 1027 kg)
A) 44.2 km/s
B) 21.7 km/s
C) 66.5 km/s
D) 113 km/s
E) 51.0 km/s
Answer: E
Var: 1

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13) The normalized wave function for a hydrogen atom in the 1s state is given by (r) =
e-r/0 where 0 is the Bohr radius, which is equal to 5.29 10-11 m. What is the probability of
finding the electron at a distance greater than 7.8 0 from the proton?
A) 2.3 10-5
B) 1.2 10-5
C) 1.7 10-5
D) 4.6 10-5
E) 3.5 10-5
Answer: A
Var: 1

14) What is the greatest magnitude of the orbital angular momentum L for an electron in a state
with principal quantum number
A) 4.47
B) 4.90
C) 5
D) 5.48
Answer: A
Var: 5

15) What is the greatest total angular momentum J for an electron in the n = 2 shell?
A) 1.9
B) 2.5
C) 0.50
D) 3.5
E) 1.5
Answer: A
Var: 1

16) The magnitude of the orbital angular momentum L of an electron in a certain atom is equal to
3.464. What is the orbital quantum number l of the electron?
A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4
E) 5
Answer: C
Var: 1

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17) The magnitude of the orbital angular momentum L of an electron in a certain atom is equal to
3.464. Which one of the following numbers could be the principal quantum number n of the
electron?
A) 0
B) 1
C) 2
D) 3
E) 4
Answer: E
Var: 1

18) The magnitude of the orbital angular momentum L of an electron in a certain atom is equal to
3.464. Which of the following angles could NOT be the angle between the orbital angular
momentum vector of the electron and an arbitrary z-direction?
A) 107
B) 90.0
C) 73.2
D) 54.7
E) 0.00
Answer: E
Var: 1

19) How many electrons can be found with principal quantum number
atom?
A) 18
B) 6
C) 20
D) 9
Answer: A

in a suitably heavy

Var: 3

20) An atom has completely filled inner shells and a single valence electron in an excited p state.
The filled inner shells have an orbital momentum equal to zero. What is the magnitude of the
orbital angular momentum L of the atom?
A) 1.0
B) 1.2
C) 1.4
D) 1.7
E) 2.0
Answer: C
Var: 1

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21) An atom has completely filled inner shells and a single valence electron in an excited p state.
The filled inner shells have an orbital momentum equal to zero. A magnetic field is applied,
defining the z-axis along the field. Which of the following sets of angles are possible angles
between the magnetic field and the orbital angular momentum?
A) 45
B) 90
C) 45, 90
D) 45, 135
E) 45, 90, 135
Answer: E
Var: 1

22) The only VALID electron state and shell designation among the following is
A) 1p, K.
B) 2s, K.
C) 1s, L.
D) 2p, L.
E) 3f, M.
Answer: D
Var: 1

23) The only INVALID electron state and shell designation among the following is
A) 1s, K.
B) 2s, L.
C) 2d, L.
D) 3s, M.
E) 3d, M.
Answer: C
Var: 1

24) The correct ground state electron configuration of boron, which has 5 electrons, is
A) 1s22s22p.
B) 1s22s22p3.
C) 1s21p22s.
D) 1s22p23s.
E) 1s22p3.
Answer: A
Var: 1

25) Consider the n = 9 shell.

(a) What is the largest value of the orbital quantum number, l, in this shell?
(b) How many electrons can be placed in this shell?
Answer: (a) 8 (b) 162
Var: 9

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26) An atom with 5 electrons is in its ground state. How many electrons are in its outermost
shell?
Answer: 3
Var: 8

27) How many electrons does it take to fill the d subshell?

A) 10
B) 6
C) 14
D) 4
E) 8
Answer: A
Var: 1

28) How many possible sets of quantum numbers (electron states) are there in the 5f subshell?
A) 2
B) 6
C) 8
D) 10
E) 14
Answer: E
Var: 1

29) A neutral atom has an electron configuration of 1s22s22p63s23p2. How many protons does
it have in its nucleus?
A) 5
B) 11
C) 14
D) 20
E) 26
Answer: C
Var: 1

30) What is the electron configuration for ground state Li, which has 3 electrons?
A) 1s3
B) 1s12s2
C) 1s22s1
D) 1s21p1
E) 1s11p2
Answer: C
Var: 1

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31) What is the correct electronic configuration for ground state carbon, which has 6 electrons?
A) 1s22s22p2
B) 1s12p1
C) 1s12s22p1
D) 1s12s12p1
E) 1s22s22p4
Answer: A
Var: 1

32) What is the correct electronic configuration for the ground state sodium atom, which has 11
electrons?
A) 1s12s23p62s2
B) 1s22s13p62s2
C) 1s12s22p6
D) 1s22s22p63s2
E) 1s22s22p63s1
Answer: E
Var: 1

33) A collection of atoms has 20% of the sample in a state

above the ground state. If these
emit coherent radiation, what is the wavelength of the laser light produced? (c = 3.00 108 m/s,
h = 6.626 10-34 J s, 1 eV = 1.60 10-19 J)
A) 210 nm
B) 91 nm
C) 340 nm
D) 34 nm
Answer: A
Var: 31

34) How many photons per second emerge from a laser of power
(c = 3.00 108 m/s, h = 6.626 10-34 J s)
A) 6.09 1015 photons/s
B) 5.03 1012 photons/s
C) 3.07 1015 photons/s
D) 3.07 1013 photons/s
Answer: A
Var: 38

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with wavelength

35) You need 14 W of infrared laser light power with wavelength 1270 nm to bore a hole in a
diamond. How many downward atomic transitions per second must occur in the laser if all of
them result in light directed onto the diamond? (c = 3.00 108 m/s, h = 6.626 10-34 J s)
A) 8.9 1019
B) 8.9 1018
C) 5.9 1019
D) 2.7 1018
Answer: A
Var: 1

36) The wavelength of a ruby laser is 694.3 nm. What is the energy difference between the two
energy states involved in laser action? (c = 2.9979 108 m/s, h = 6.626 10-34 J s, 1 eV =
1.6022 10-19 J)
A) 1.537 eV
B) 1.646 eV
C) 1.786 eV
D) 1.812 eV
E) 3.572 eV
Answer: C
Var: 1

37) In a ruby laser, an electron jumps from a higher energy level to a lower one. If the energy
difference between the two levels is 1.8 eV, what is the wavelength of the emitted photon? (c =
3.00 108 m/s, h = 6.626 10-34 J s, 1 eV = 1.60 10-19 J)
A) 350 nm
B) 470 nm
C) 650 nm
D) 690 nm
E) 960 nm
Answer: D
Var: 1

38) An s state (l = 0) energy level is split into two levels by an applied magnetic field. A photon
of microwave radiation having frequency 60 GHz induces a transition between the two levels.
What is the magnitude of the applied magnetic field? (h = 6.626 10-34 J s, Bohr magneton =
B = 9.27 10-24 J/T)
A) 2.1 T
B) 0.34 T
C) 1.2 T
D) 2.8 T
E) 13 T
Answer: A
Var: 50+

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