Question

Please Help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 21cm (wavelength=0.21 meters) spectral line of neutral hydrogen is one of the most important and observationally useful electromagnetic radiation in galactic astronomy and cosmology.
Its detection, as well as observations of its Doppler shift contribute to astronomers being able to deduct the structure, movement, and mass of galaxies and galaxy clusters throughout the universe.


If you were to devise a simple radio antenna capable of detecting the 21cm line, what frequency should it be tuned to?

Show all steps of your calculations!!!!!

Answer 1

As per the question the wavelength of spectral line of the neutral hydrogen atom is 21 cm.

Spectral line of hydrogen atom will be observed when an electron will jump from higher excited to the ground state. If E is the energy of the ground state and E' is the energy of the higher excited state,the energy emitted when electron will jump from higher excited to ground state is E'-E.

As per Planck's quantum theory -

`hf =E'-E`

Where f is the frequency of emitted radiation and h is the Planck's constant.Actually this energy emitted is also electromagnetic in nature. We know that all the electromagnetic radiation will move with the same velocity which is equal to the velocity of light.

The velocity of light c= 3×10^8 m/s.Hence the velocity of wave corresponding to this spectral line is 3×10^8 m/s.

We know that velocity of a wave is the product of frequency and wavelength of that corresponding wave. Mathematically we can write it as-

`v=\lambda f`

[
`here \lambda` is the wavelength of the wave ]

It is given that wavelength =21 cm=0.21 m

The frequency is calculated as -

`f=(v)/(\lambda)`

`=(c)/(\lambda)`

`=(3*10^(8) m/s )/(0.21 m)`

`=14.2857*10^(8) s^(-1)`

Hence the antenna will be tuned to a frequency of 14.2857×10^8 Hz

Here Hertz[ Hz] is the unit of frequency.