eksitaatioenergia

Eksitaatioenergia, often translated as excitation energy, refers to the minimum amount of energy that must be supplied to an atom, molecule, or other system to raise it from its ground state to a higher energy level. In quantum mechanics, systems exist in discrete energy states. The ground state is the lowest possible energy level. When a system absorbs energy, it can transition to an excited state, which is any energy level above the ground state. The difference in energy between the ground state and an excited state is the excitation energy.

This energy can be absorbed in various forms, such as photons (light), collisions with other particles, or chemical reactions. Once a system is in an excited state, it is generally unstable and will tend to return to a lower energy state, often the ground state. This transition back to a lower energy level typically results in the emission of energy, again often in the form of photons, which can be observed as light of a specific wavelength characteristic of the substance. The concept of excitation energy is fundamental to understanding phenomena like atomic spectra, fluorescence, phosphorescence, and chemical reactivity. It plays a crucial role in fields ranging from atomic physics and spectroscopy to photochemistry and materials science.