Balmer series and Rydberg formula
Serie de Balmer y fórmula de Rydberg
- Date
- 1885 · confidence high
- Place
- Basel, Switzerland
- Credited to
- Johann Balmer; Johannes Rydberg
- People
- 👤 Johannes Rydberg1854–1919👤 Johann Jakob Balmer1825–1898
- Field
- Communication
What was discovered
The lines of hydrogen obey a simple numerical formula with integers, generalised by Rydberg (1888-1890) to other elements. The first mathematical regularity of spectra, which demanded an explanation of atomic structure.
Balmer was a secondary-school teacher and found the formula at the age of 60 with only four measured lines.
What it led to
- Bohr model (1913)
- Quantitative atomic spectroscopy
- Rydberg constant (the most precisely measured constant in physics)
- Quantum mechanics
Built on
- Spectral analysis (Bunsen-Kirchhoff)1859-1860
- Kirchhoff and Bunsen's spectroscopy
- Ångström's measurements of hydrogen
Made possible
- Lyman series1906
- Paschen series1908
- Bohr model of the atom1913
- Spectral identification of elements in stars
- Hydrogen calibration lamps