Mistake in '96 exam Q41

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noospace
Posts: 46
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2008 9:14 pm

Mistake in '96 exam Q41

Post by noospace » 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?

blackcat007
Posts: 378
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:14 am

Re: Mistake in '96 exam Q41

Post by blackcat007 » Sun Oct 04, 2009 12:24 am

noospace wrote: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?
yes, there seem to be a typo, 3 should be 2 for 2S+1 , other than that everything is fine



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