Russian

STEADY ATOMIC STATES

An atomic system can be only in several certain conditions, in which emission does not take place, though in this case charged particles in the atom are moving with acceleration. Conditions of this kind are known as steady atomic states. To present possible energetic atomic states pictorially, energetic diagrams are used. At such diagrams each steady atomic state is marked by a horizontal line, which is called energetic level. All steady states, except one, are steady only by convention. For infinite time every atom can stay only in the steady state with minimal energy E₁. This atomic state is called ground, or, normal state. All the rest of steady atomic states with energies E₂, E₃, …, E_n are called excited states.