Lecture 11. F. Spectral Lines

Electrons can orbit atoms with different amounts of energy -- but only certain "allowed" energies, called ENERGY LEVELS or ORBITALS. No e-'s can orbit atoms with energies between allowed levels.

e-'s can change levels by absorbing or emitting a photon

there are minimum and maximum levels:

according to the principle PAULI EXCLUSION, orbitals can be full -- meaning an e- cannot move into the full orbital, even if it has the correct energy

Each element has its characteristic arrangement of energy levels