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I am trying to do the following question which asks me to calculate the wavelength of the green line in the visible spectrum of H. The authors claim that the green line is the second most energetic line but I believe that's a misprint because wavelength of green is second largest so energy should be second least. Am I right?

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  • $\begingroup$ The Balmer series [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… is in the visible region of the spectrum, so this is presumably the group of transitions you should examine. However there is no line which corresponds to green colored light $\endgroup$
    – Buck Thorn
    Commented May 13, 2019 at 6:44
  • $\begingroup$ @NightWriter I know from that we get that $n_final=2$ but to figure out $n_initial$ we have to use the relative energy of the green line in the spectrum. I'm pretty sure there is a green line in the spectrum :) $\endgroup$ Commented May 13, 2019 at 6:48
  • $\begingroup$ Ok but then I'm confused about the question because the hydrogen spectral series (emission spectrum) does not contain a green line (see the source I linked to). $\endgroup$
    – Buck Thorn
    Commented May 13, 2019 at 6:51
  • $\begingroup$ @NightWriter Eh? Transition from $n = 4$ to $n = 2$ corresponds to $λ = \pu{486 nm}$, which is quite green to me (looks more like cyan on the image, but still). $\endgroup$
    – andselisk
    Commented May 13, 2019 at 6:52
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    $\begingroup$ @NightWriter Ha, I've just edited this into my comment:) $\endgroup$
    – andselisk
    Commented May 13, 2019 at 6:56

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