Mistake in '96 exam Q41
Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:56 pm
Hi all,
There appears to be some debate on grephysics.net about whether or not there is an error the question.
It states that the 3p electron is in the ^3 P_{3/2} state and is allowed to make a transition to the ^2 S_{1/2} state.
As far as I can tell this is incorrect since 2s + 1 = 2*(1/2) + 1 = 2 for the initial state. Moreover the transition would imply Delta s = -1 which is forbidden for electric dipole transitions.
Comments?
There appears to be some debate on grephysics.net about whether or not there is an error the question.
It states that the 3p electron is in the ^3 P_{3/2} state and is allowed to make a transition to the ^2 S_{1/2} state.
As far as I can tell this is incorrect since 2s + 1 = 2*(1/2) + 1 = 2 for the initial state. Moreover the transition would imply Delta s = -1 which is forbidden for electric dipole transitions.
Comments?