Optics B/C

[foreverphysics]

Wait what? What hydrogen particle stuff? I don't see anything on the rules about that...o.o

Our regionals test last year....*grimace*...it was a failure. We FAILED. And yet...we still medaled. But still, I'm really going to work on the hydrogen/helium particle/atom stuff this year...the questions were ridiculous. That Regionals test was the hardest Optics test I ever took...and that includes the 2010 trial event at Nats test, which was 12 pages long.

[JSGandora]

So uhhh...what exactly is this hydrogen particle stuff?

[cngu23]

So uhhh...what exactly is this hydrogen particle stuff?

Something about frequency of light emitted by a hydrogen particle? Doesn't say anything about this in the rules.

[JSGandora]

That's pretty tedious...a chart would help in that case. Are they allowed to ask questions about that?

[Skink]

Sounds like quantum mechanics...which isn't directly connected to optics, is it? Are you sure your Regional test wasn't just a little deviant?

[cngu23]

That's pretty tedious...a chart would help in that case. Are they allowed to ask questions about that?

I'm not sure if my interpretation is correct, but that's the closest thing I can think of that is related to both optics and hydrogen particles.
It deals with optics because light is emitted as electrons fall to their ground state?

[chalker]

So uhhh...what exactly is this hydrogen particle stuff?

Something about frequency of light emitted by a hydrogen particle? Doesn't say anything about this in the rules.

This sounds like a standard bright line spectra question (which is covered in 3.c.v.). Was it anything like you see on this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emission_spectrum#Origins

[foreverphysics]

Chalker...if it were anything like that, I wouldn't be worried. But it's not, so I am. It was something about the frequency of the photon stream that a hydrogen photon emits if it's struck by different types of light, and how you calculate that. Or something like that. I dunno. But I really am worried about that portion of it.

[cngu23]

Chalker...if it were anything like that, I wouldn't be worried. But it's not, so I am. It was something about the frequency of the photon stream that a hydrogen photon emits if it's struck by different types of light, and how you calculate that. Or something like that. I dunno. But I really am worried about that portion of it.

Actually, what chalker said wouldn't be that hard. You just calculate the energy drop of the electron and use a formula. I learned it in AP Physics B last year.

[chalker]

Chalker...if it were anything like that, I wouldn't be worried. But it's not, so I am. It was something about the frequency of the photon stream that a hydrogen photon emits if it's struck by different types of light, and how you calculate that. Or something like that. I dunno. But I really am worried about that portion of it.

I think the event supervisor might have just been using creative language to try to trip you up. From the wikipedia page: "When the electrons in the atom are excited, for example by being heated, the additional energy pushes the electrons to higher energy orbitals. When the electrons fall back down and leave the excited state, energy is re-emitted in the form of a photon"

From your description:
frequency of the photon stream = the type of light (i.e. normally we talk about wavelengths of light, but freq is easy to calculate_
hydrogen atom emits = the emission spectra
struck by different types of light = the excitation energy (i.e. could be heat, but could be other things like other light that is absorbed)