Balmer seems to have deduced his formula for the visible spectrum of hydrogen just by manipulating numbers. A more common scientific procedure is to graph experimental data and then find a mathematical equation to describe the graph. Show that equation (8.4) describes a straight line. Indicate which variables must be plotted, and determine the numerical values of the slope and intercept of this line. Use data from Figure 8-12 to confirm that the four lines in the visible spectrum of hydrogen fall on the straight-line graph.

Eq. 8.4

Figure 8-12

Transcribed Image Text:

= RH 1-(-2)-(-2) m² = 4/1 B n² (8.4)