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The number of energy levels surrounding an atom is directly related to the period where it is located?

a) True
b) False

1 Answer

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Final answer:

The number of energy levels in an atom is indeed related to the atom's period on the periodic table, as the period number corresponds to the highest principal quantum number (n) of the atom's electrons.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question at hand is whether the number of energy levels surrounding an atom is directly related to the period where it is located. The answer is true. In the periodic table, the period number corresponds to the highest principal quantum number (n) of an atom's electrons in their ground state. Thus, elements in the first period have their highest-energy electrons in the n=1 energy level; elements in the second period have their highest-energy electrons in the n=2 energy level, and so on.

Bohr's model and the more advanced quantum mechanical model both suggest that each atom has a set of unchangeable energy levels, and the electrons in the electron cloud of an atom must be in one of those energy levels. These energy levels are fixed distances from the nucleus and are quantized, meaning that electrons can move from one level to another but cannot exist between levels. As the principal quantum number, n, increases with each period, the size of the orbital increases, and electrons are further from the nucleus, leading to higher energy levels.

Therefore, the number of energy levels is indeed related to the period of the atom on the periodic table.

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