What is the ionization energy of hydrogen atom in eV?

Question

137 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2018-02-09T17:42:58

Isn't it already given in the Rydberg equation?

#DeltaE = -"13.61 eV" cdot (1/n_f^2 - 1/n_i^2)#

Or if we take one state at a time...

#E_n = -"13.61 eV" cdot 1/n^2#

Hydrogen only has a #1s# electron, with #n = 1#, so...

#E_1 = -"13.61 eV"/1^2 = ???#

And thus, ionizing it, as per Koopman's approximation theorem (which here is exact!) is simply going to require input of #color(blue)("13.61 eV")#.