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Everything about Energy Level totally explained

» This article is about orbital (electron) energy levels. For compounds' energy levels, see chemical potential.

A quantum mechanical system can only be in certain states, so that only certain energy levels are possible. The term energy level is most commonly used in reference to the electron configuration in atoms or molecules. In other words, the energy spectrum can be quantized (see continuous spectrum for the more general case).
   As with classical potentials, the potential energy is usually set to zero at infinity, leading to a negative potential energy for bound electron states.
   Energy levels are said to be degenerate, if the same energy level is obtained by more than one quantum mechanical state. They are then called degenerate energy levels.
   The following sections of this article gives an overview over the most important factors that determine the energy levels of atoms and molecules.

Atoms

Intrinsic energy levels

Orbital state energy level

Assume an electron in a given atomic orbital. The energy of its state is mainly determined by the electrostatic interaction of the (negative) electron with the (positive) nucleus. The energy levels of an electron around a nucleus are given by : » E_n = - h c R_ is an eigenvalue of the electronic molecular Hamiltonian (the value of the potential energy surface) at the equilibrium geometry of the molecule.
   The molecular energy levels are labelled by the molecular term symbols.
   The specific energies of these components vary with the specific energy state and the substance.
   In molecular physics and quantum chemistry, an energy level is a quantized energy of a bound quantum mechanical state.

Crystalline Materials

Crystalline materials are often characterized by a number of important energy levels. The most important ones are the top of the valence band, the bottom of the conduction band, the Fermi energy, the vacuum level, and the energy levels of any defect states in the crystals.

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