How many different possible electron states are there in the n = 100, l = 2 subshell?
Question:
How many different possible electron states are there in the n = 100, l = 2 subshell?
(a) 2;
(b) 100;
(c) 10,000;
(d) 10.
In photosynthesis in plants, light is absorbed in light-harvesting complexes that consist of protein and pigment molecules. The absorbed energy is then transported to a specialized complex called the reaction center. Quantum-mechanical effects may play an important role in this energy transfer. In a recent experiment, researchers cooled rubidium atoms to a very low temperature to study a similar energytransfer process in the lab. Laser light was used to excite an electron in each atom to a state with large n. This highly excited electron behaves much like the single electron in a hydrogen atom, with an effective (screened) atomic number Zeff = 1. Because n is so large, though, the excited electron is quite far from the atomic nucleus, with an orbital radius of approximately 1 mm, and is weakly bound. Using these so-called Rydberg atoms, the researchers were able to study the way energy is transported from one atom to the next. This process may be a model for understanding energy transport in photosynthesis.
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University Physics with Modern Physics
ISBN: 978-0133977981
14th edition
Authors: Hugh D. Young, Roger A. Freedman