Balmer's Constant

Balmer's Constant is used in chemistry to discern the frequency of light emitted when an atom's electron returns to the ground state. It can also be used to find the frequency of light necessary to excite an electron to a certain energy level. Balmer's Constant has a value of 3.29 * 10¹⁵ s^-1 and is denoted with a capital C (not to be confused with c, the speed of light in a vacuum). It is used in the formula:

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ν is the frequency of emitted/absorbed light, C is Balmer's constant, n_i is the initial principal quantum number and n_f is the final principle quantum number. The sign of the answer indicates whether the light is absorbed or emitted. A negative sign denotes emitted light where a positive sign denotes absorbed light.

See also

• Planck's Constant
• Rydberg constant