Final answer:
The typical lifetime of an atom in an excited state is about 10^-8 seconds, or 10 nanoseconds. This short period is associated with the quantum physics behavior of atoms as they return to a lower energy state, in accordance with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.
Step-by-step explanation:
When discussing the behavior of excited atoms, understanding the duration of an excited state and the properties of the subsequent photon emission is essential in the field of quantum physics. An atom typically exists in an excited state for a very short period before returning to a lower energy level, a process often accompanied by the emission of a photon. The mean lifetime for spontaneous de-excitation of an excited atom is typically about 10^-8 seconds (10 nanoseconds). This is a period short enough to be considered almost instant on human time scales, but long enough to be measured and studied scientifically.
The duration of these excited states is significant because it associates with a fundamental property described in Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which suggests that there is a fundamental limit to the precision with which certain pairs of physical properties, such as position and momentum or time and energy, can be known. In the context of an atom's excited state, the uncertainty principle indicates that the estimate of the uncertainty in the frequency of emitted photons is related to the duration of the excited state. However, this uncertainty is generally very small compared to the energies involved in atomic transitions.
Thus, when asked for the typical lifetime of an excited state in an atom, we can refer to this mean lifetime of about 10 nanoseconds. This indicates that in the context of the question, the correct option is (c) 10 nano seconds.