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Question

The energy of the electron in a hydrogen atom has a negative sign for all possible orbits because:

A
when the electron is attracted by the nucleus and is present in orbit n, the energy is emitted and its energy is lowered.
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B
when the electron is attracted by the nucleus and is present in orbit n, the energy is absorbed and its energy is increased
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C
when the electron is repelled by the nucleus, the energy is released and its energy is lowered
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D
none of these
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Solution

The correct option is B when the electron is attracted by the nucleus and is present in orbit n, the energy is emitted and its energy is lowered.
The negative sign of the energy of the electron in a hydrogen atom in any orbit means that the energy of the electron in the atom is lower than the energy of a free electron at rest i.e. 0. A free electron at rest means that it is infinitely far away from the nucleus and has negligible attraction towards nucleus. As the electron gets closer to the nucleus attraction increases and thus lower the energy of the system by releasing energy that has negative magnitude.

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