An important reaction in the formation of photochemical smog is the photodissociation of NO : NO2 + hv → NO(g) + O(g) The maximum wavelength of light that can cause this reac- tion is 420 nm. (a) In what part of the electromagnetic spec- trum is light with this wavelength found?

Video transcript

Hey everyone in this example, we're told that one reaction that happens in the atmosphere is the photo dissociation of methane and it's given by the following reaction. We're told that the reaction can be initiated by light with a wavelength of approximately nm we need to figure out what region of the electromagnetic spectrum is this wavelength of light located. So we're going to take the value given the prompt, 290 nm. And because we recall that wavelength should be measured in units of meters. We're going to convert from nanometers two m. So we would recall that our prefix nano tells us that we have 10 to the negative ninth power meters. We're going to be able to cancel our units of nanometers, leaving us with meters for our wavelength. And we would get a value of 2.9 times 10 to the negative seven power meters. As our value for our wavelength here. Now, when we refer to our electromagnetic spectrum in our textbooks or online we would see that this value for our wavelength corresponds to therefore the light being UV light which occurs around this measurement for our wavelength. So our final answer here is going to be ultraviolet light. UV light. I hope that everything I explained was clear. But if you have any questions, just leave them down below and I will see everyone in the next practice video