Claim: Electrons with higher energy will be positioned further away from the nucleus than electrons with lower energy. Evidence and Analysis: In this lab, eight solutions were tested to show how the energy of light given off by an atom describes the location of an electron in the atom. When certain solutions were placed in the flame from a bunsen burner, the flame turned different colours. Lithium made the flame change to a violet/teal colour, barium and copper made the flame become green, and strontium, calcium, sodium, sodium and potassium, and the unknown substance made the flame change to a red/orange colour. Reading and Reflection: Given the prior knowledge that purple light has the highest amount of energy and red light has the lowest amount of energy, it was inferred that solutions with purple/blue light have more energy and those with red/orange light have the smallest amount of energy. So lithium had the highest energy (in wavelengths), barium and copper had a moderate amount of energy, and the majority of the substances had low light energy. Other prior knowledge led to the fact that electrons further away from the nucleus have more energy. So lithium, which had the highest amount of energy, has to have electrons the furthest …show more content…
This was stated in the hypothesis of electrons further away from the nucleus having more energy. This remained the main belief of the experiment even after the experiment was conducted, because it was based on the prior knowledge that electrons are more “excited” when they have bounced to an orbital further away from their ground state. That is, it takes energy for an electron to leave its ground state, and when the electron returns to its ground state, the energy it gives off is emitted in the form of wavelengths of light, causing the observer to see the differing colours, depending on the amount of