Glossary of Words

The following words are the keywords that have been introduced in the past few lessons. Understanding what each means and represents are crucial to grasping further lessons in this tutorial.

Glossary

Bohr’s model of the hydrogen atom

structural model in which an electron moves around the nucleus only in circular orbits, each with a specific allowed radius; the orbiting electron does not normally emit electromagnetic radiation, but does so when changing from one orbit to another.

Excited state

state having an energy greater than the ground-state energy

Ground state

state in which the electrons in an atom, ion, or molecule have the lowest energy possible

Quantum number

integer number having only specific allowed values and used to characterize the arrangement of electrons in an atom