Review Questions

1. What is a ground-state Russell-Saunders symbol describing? Explain how it is determined? In your explanation, include the role of Hund's rule and the application of the Lande' interval in your explanation.

2. In terms of their electron configurations, what do all Group 1A "Alkali metals" have in common.  Explain how this results in all Alkali metal atoms and ions having the same ground-state Russell-Saunders symbols.

3. Describe what an isoelectronic sequence is. What are iso-sequence ions and what do we mean when we say an ion is lithium-like, or sodium-like? What does this imply about their energy structure and spectra?

4. Consider Figure 23.5. Explain, qualitatively, the physics of electron orbitals and binding energies such that ionization potential increases monotonically as electrons are populated into a given subshell for successively heavier atoms/ions, but drops dramatically after the shell is full, i.e., when an electron is the first to populate a new shell in the next heaviest atom/ion.

5. What is a Grotrian diagram and what is it showing? What does the term "0-volt transition" refer to?

6. Examining the Grotrian diagram for lithium-like ions (Figure 23.6), we see that fine-structure transitions labeled "A" are some of the most common absorption lines see in quasar spectra.  Write down these ion/transitions. Why are the "A" transitions the most commonly ones seen? Why not the "B" or  "C"?  Why would the transitions labeled  "D" through "G" be significantly less common?

7. For allowed transitions, why are the Grotrian diagrams of some atoms/ions separated into singlet transitions (S = 0) and triplet transitions (S = 1)?  What is the name of the selection rule that is responsible for this phenomenon and what is the rule?

8. For multiplets of FeII transitions, what does the notation "a" and "z" denote when added to the Russell-Saunders symbol ?

Problems

1. Under construction