Question

The violet flame shown by potassium in Bunsen flame is due to jumping of the electrons from:
A.1s to 4p
B.1s to 5p
C.4p to 4s
D.5p to 4s

Answer 1

Hint:Potassium is colourless or in white but when it is heated, it produces violet flame due to excitation of the electrons to the higher energy orbitals. Potassium burns with light purple coloured flame. On heating earth metal or its salt, the electrons are energized effectively to higher energy levels.

Complete step by step answer:
-Potassium is an alkali metal and it belongs to the alkali metal and its atomic number is 19 and mass number as 39. The outer electronic configuration of potassium is $4{s^1}$.
-The alkali metals are very soft and it can be cut easily with a knife. It is white with silvery shine and its melting point is very low. The alkali metal is a very good conductor of heat and electricity and the ions when it gets charged helps to generate electricity.
-The potassium which is alkali metal is used to flame test, the loosely bonded electrons which are present in the outermost valence shell of the potassium atoms get excited, it gains energy and jumps to the higher energy levels and after some time when they return to their original energy level orbitals, they emit radiations when falls under the region of the visible light, it produces colour to the flame and the colour produced by the potassium ion is pale lilac colour that is Violet or light blue colour to the flame.
-Potassium is a reactive metal belonging to the block of the periodic table (Alkali metals), so its oxidation state in almost all its compounds is $ + 1$ (same as the group number of it).
-The violet fire appeared by potassium in Bunsen fire is because of the bouncing of the electrons from 5p to 4s.
Thus the correct answer is (D).


Note:
In potassium heat of the flame gives electrons energy. These electrons give out energy in the form of light. Flame tests are used to identify the presence of metal ions in a compound as different metal ions produce different colours to the flame and hence can be easily distinguishable through their colour. The electrons produce the colour difference.