| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Aufbau principle | an electron occupies the lowest-energy orbital that can receive it |
| continuous spectrum | a spectrum that includes all wavelengths within a given range |
| electromagnetic radiation | a form of energy that exhibits wavelike behavior as it travels through space |
| electromagnetic spectrum | all electromagnetic radiation, arranged according to increasing wavelength |
| electron configuration | the arrangement of electrons in atoms |
| excited state | state in which an atom has a higher potential energy than it has in its ground state |
| frequency | the number of waves that pass a given point in a specific amount of time |
| ground state | the state of lowest energy of an atom |
| Hund's rule | orbitals of equal energy are each occupied by one electron before any orbital is occupied by a second electron and all electrons in singly occupied orbitals must have the same spin |
| inner shell electrons | electrons that are not in the highest-occupied energy level |
| line emission spectrum | the colored lines produced when an electron drops from a higher-energy orbit to a lower energy orbit |
| magnetic quantum number | the quantum number that indicated the orientation of an orbital about the nucleus |
| orbital quantum number | the quantum number that indicated the shape of an orbital |
| Pauli exclusion principle | no two electrons in the same atom can have the same set of four quantum numbers |
| photon | a quantum of light, thought of as particles of radiation |
| photoelectric effect | the emission of electrons by certain metals when light shines on them |
| principle quantum number | the quantum number that indicates the main energy levels surrounding a nucleus |
| Octet rule | chemical compounds form so that each atoms has 8 electrons in its highest occupied energy level |
| spin quantum number | the quantum number that indicates two possible states of an electron in an orbital, +onehalf, -onehalf |
| valence electrons | the electrons available to be lost, gained, or shared in the formation of chemical compounds |
| wavelength | the distance between corresponding points on adjacent waves |
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