Hypothesis Testing Inclusion in the Atomic Emission Spectrum of Hydrogen Experiment

The measurement of the visible emission spectrum of hydrogen, a common general chemistry laboratory experiment, can be presented in a manner that incorporates hypothesis testing. In the Rydberg equation (1/λ = R(1/nf2 – 1/ni2), the hypotheses tested are nf = 1, 2, 3, …. Hypothesis testing involves calculating an nf value from the emission wavelength data. The hypothesis that fits is one in which nf (hypothesis) = nf (calculated). From a linear regression of 1/λ versus 1/ni2, nf (calculated) = √(–m/b) where m is the slope and b is the y intercept. For the visible region emission data, nf (calculated) values are 1.30, 2.00, and 2.72 for nf (hypothesis) values of 1, 2, and 3, respectively, indicating that nf = 2.