Satellites and Binding Energy EX 5

An electron in a hydrogen atom has an energy of -13.6 eV.

(a) When an electron increases its energy by 13.1 eV, then its total energy becomes -0.5 eV. The electron is still bound to the proton and therefore the hydrogen atom will not be ionized. The electron will be at a higher energy level and it will eventually lose energy and return to the ground state.

(b) When an electron increases its energy by 15.0 eV, then the total energy of the proton-electron system becomes 1.4 eV. The hydrogen atom will be ionized because the total energy of the system is positive.