excitation, in physics, the addition of a discrete amount of energy (called excitation energy) to a system—such as an atomic nucleus, an atom, or a molecule—that results in its alteration, ordinarily from the condition of lowest energy (ground state) to one of higher energy (excited state).
In nuclear, atomic, and molecular systems, the excited states are not continuously distributed but have only certain discrete energy values. Thus, external energy (excitation energy) can be absorbed only in correspondingly discrete amounts.
Thus, in a hydrogen atom (composed of an orbiting electron bound to a nucleus of one proton), an excitation energy of 10.2 electron volts is required to promote the electron from its ground state to the first excited state. A different excitation energy (12.1 electron volts) is needed to raise the electron from its ground state to the second excited state.
Similarly, the protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei constitute a system that can be raised to discrete higher energy levels by supplying appropriate excitation energies. Nuclear excitation energies are roughly 1,000,000 times greater than atomic excitation energies. For the nucleus of lead-206, as an example, the excitation energy of the first excited state is 0.80 million electron volts and of the second excited state 1.18 million electron volts.
The excitation energy stored in excited atoms and nuclei is radiated usually as visible light from atoms and as gamma radiation from nuclei as they return to their ground states. This energy can also be lost by collision.
The process of excitation is one of the major means by which matter absorbs pulses of electromagnetic energy (photons), such as light, and by which it is heated or ionized by the impact of charged particles, such as electrons and alpha particles. In atoms, the excitation energy is absorbed by the orbiting electrons that are raised to higher distinct energy levels. In atomic nuclei, the energy is absorbed by protons and neutrons that are transferred to excited states. In a molecule, the energy is absorbed not only by the electrons, which are excited to higher energy levels, but also by the whole molecule, which is excited to discrete modes of vibration and rotation.