Analyzing The Emission Spectra of Sodium

[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” separator_top_type=”none” separator_top_height=”50px” separator_top_angle_point=”50″ separator_bottom_type=”none” separator_bottom_height=”50px” separator_bottom_angle_point=”50″ style=”margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][cs_text]The Chemistry of Art > 2. The Structure of the Atom and Colours > Analyzing The Emission Spectra of Sodium >[/cs_text][cs_text style=”color: #800000;font-family: “Oxygen”,sans-serif;”]Gather and process information from secondary sources to analyse the emission spectra of sodium and present information by drawing energy level diagrams to represent these spectral lines[/cs_text][cs_text]Sodium

  • Symbol: Na
  • Atomic number: 11
  • Flame color: Yellow – Orange (visible region)
  • Wavelength of light emitted: 600 nm approx.
  • Ground state electron configuration: 1s22s22p63s1 

Spectra of sodium

  • Sodium burns with a bright yellowy-orange flame color which comes from the most frequent electron transition from excited state 3p energy level to 3s ground state level – emitting energy around yellow wavelength
  • Visible line spectrum is dominated by a closely spaced pair of yellow lines and appears as bright yellow doublet at approx 589 and 590nm
  • Doublet is a consequence of the different angular momentums possible for 3p electrons
  • By using CD as diffraction grating, the yellow colour can be commonly observed in street lamps.

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