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Re: Energy level diagrams



On Friday, June 4, 2004, at 10:50 AM, John Denker wrote:

Pete Lohstreter wrote:
who set up the lettering scheme.
I think the question is about lettering the
principle orbit locations not the orbitals. For instance, the first
orbit
is either designated as '1' or 'K' the second is '2' or 'L' etc...

Two answers, one phenomenological, one theoretical;

The lettering goes back to the earliest days of Xray
spectroscopy. Barkla labelled the various series of
lines observed in the spectrum.
http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1917/barkla-lecture.pdf

Similar phenomenological nomenclature history underlies
the famous yellow Sodium spectral lines aka D lines,
which are in no way related to the d orbital (something I
discovered last fall for the first time ever). Their name
predates Bohr's theory.

Another related case of nomenclature planning for future
expansion that never took place is the names of the observed
structures in an EKG chart -- the P wave QRS complex
T wave etc. were all so named at the time to leave room
for more phenomena that might have been observed
when better instruments became available.

Dan MacIsaac, Assistant Professor of Physics, SUNY-Buffalo State College
222SCIE BSC, 1300 Elmwood Ave , Buffalo NY 14222 USA 716-878-3802
<macisadl@buffalostate.edu> <http://PhysicsEd.BuffaloState.edu>