4 ms·

rydberg atoms? why they dont tellyou the exact element

• Tuna-Fish 7y ago
  The exact element does not actually matter here. What matters is that the atoms in question have some of their electrons in ridiculously highly excited orbitals. This dramatically changes how the system works, and in fact if you have one highly excited electron and many tighly bound core electrons, you can approximate the system by modeling it as hydrogen, regardless of what element it actually is, due to how well the core electrons shield the outer electron from the core.
  • lioeters 7y ago
    > approximate the system by modeling it as hydrogen, regardless of what element it actually is That's fascinating. I found corresponding statements in a Wikipedia article: > Rydberg atoms have a number of peculiar properties including an exaggerated response to electric and magnetic fields, long decay periods and electron wavefunctions that approximate, under some conditions, classical orbits of electrons about the nuclei. > The core electrons shield the outer electron from the electric field of the nucleus such that, from a distance, the electric potential looks identical to that experienced by the electron in a hydrogen atom.