Rydberg constant
The
rydberg constant is named after
physicist Janne Rydberg, and is a
physical constant discovered when measuring the
spectrum of
hydrogen, and building upon results from
Anders Jonas Ångström and Johann Balmer. Each
chemical element has it's own Rydberg constant, but most commonly referred to is the "infinity" constant.
The "infinity" Rydberg constant is:
The "infinity" constant appears in the formula:
Which gives the Rydberg constant for a certain
atom with one
electron with the
rest mass and the
atomic nucleus mass . And can be derived from the formula:
As the formula for the Rydberg constant contains no less than
five other
physical constants, namely the
elementary charge , the
electron rest mass , the
permittivity of vacuum ,
Planck's constant , and the
speed of light in
vacuum , it is one of the most well-determined physical constants. Measuring the Rydberg constant namely confirms the proportions of the values of the other five constants.
For more information about this formula, see the article on the Rydberg formula.
See Also