How does an atom make light?

Answer 1

The "trick" to atoms being able to give off light lies with the electrons. Nuclear decay can cause it, but the electromagnetic energy given off by a nucleus when it decays or is transmuted in some other way is usually of such high energy that we don't "see" it as visible light. Nuclear "light" is usually gamma rays. Now that we've covered that, let's look at those electrons. Electrons form up in the electron cloud around a nucleus. If we give the electron a little bit of extra energy, and just the right amount of it, that electron can jump up to another orbital, or another Fermi energy level. After it does so, it can give off that energy packet and drop back down where it came from. The energy bundle it gives off is electromagnetic energy, and it is often in the optical range where we can see it. By applying voltage across a gas mixture, we can cause large numbers of electrons in lots and lots of atoms to "jump up" and then fall back and then "jump up" again. With the return of each electron to its original orbital, a packet of electromagnetic energy is released, and that will be some specific frequency of light. By getting a lot of different atoms involved in this "jumping" stuff by using voltage across, say, a fluorescent tube, we can get that tube to give off light - and lots of it! And by manipulating the gas content of the tube and the pressure in there and the applied voltage, we can get a whole lot of different frequencies of light to be emitted, and this will make "white" light. Did you know that if you crush sugar cubes in the dark, you can see little flashes of light when you crush the cubes? If your eyes are adjusted to the dark and it's really dark (like in a closet), just crushing the cubes of sugar will cause electrons in atoms in the sugar to jump up to higher energy levels, and when they fall back down, they emit visible light that you can see. Really!

Answer 2

Atoms can give off light under certain circumstances. One would be if they were radioactive. Enough radiation would cause a material or substance to glow in the dark, like luminous watch or instrument dials. The more radiation, the brighter the substance glows. Old aircraft instrument hands and markers were painted with radium paint so that the instruments could be used in the dark. There were minor issues with the radiation for the pilots, but major (lethal) health issues for the workers (women - the Radium Girls) who painted the instrument hands and faces. Another way atoms can give off light is if they are ionized. Ionized gas atoms in photoluminescent tubes do this. That's like neon or fluorescent lights. Electricity gives electrons enough energy to leave their orbits and move to higher ones. The atoms are ionized. Then the electrons give off that energy in the form of visible radiation and return to their orbitals. That's why we build the tubes in the first place; that's what they do. In a similar way, materials can be made to incandesce. If we provide enough thermal energy, enough heat, objects will get red hot and give off light. Heat them more and they become white hot, like the filament of an incandescent light bulb. Electrons around the atoms take thermal energy and react to it like they do with electrical energy. We mentioned the mechanism above. In this and other cases, atoms give off light when their electrons have been given enough energy to cause them to change orbitals. The thermal energy kicks electrons up into higher energy levels and they emit light and fall back.

Answer 3

An atom makes light by releasing energy in the form of photons when electrons in higher energy levels drop to lower energy levels. This process is known as electron transition and the photons emitted have specific wavelengths corresponding to the energy difference between the levels.

Answer 4

an atom makes light when its electrions move in from the outside orbit to the inside produces energy which is light.