Question

An excited atom decays to its ground state and emits a photon of green light. If instead the atom decays to an intermediate state, then the light emitted could be

A. red
B. blue
C. violet
D. any of these

Answer 1

An excited atom can emit light when it decays to its ground state. The color of the emitted light depends on the energy difference between the excited state and the ground state.

Step-by-step explanation:

An excited atom can decay to its ground state by emitting a photon of light. The color of the emitted light depends on the energy difference between the excited state and the ground state. In this case, if the atom decays to an intermediate state, it could emit any color of light, including red, blue, or violet.