Theoretical and Experimental Values for the Rydberg Constant Do Not Match

Abstract

In many areas of physics and chemistry, the Rydberg constant is a fundamental physical constant that plays an important role. It comes into play as an indispensable physical constant in basic equations for describing natural phenomena. The Rydberg constant appears in the formula for calculating the wavelengths in the line spectrum emitted from the hydrogen atom. However, this Rydberg wavelength formula is a nonrelativistic formula derived at the level of classical quantum theory. In this paper, the Rydberg formula is rewritten as a wavelength formula taking into account the theory of relativity. When this is done, we come to an unexpected conclusion. What we try to determine by measuring spectra wavelengths is not actually the value of the Rydberg constant R∞ but the value Rn,m of Formula (18). R∞ came into common use in the world of nonrelativistic classical quantum theory. If the theory of relativity is taken into account, R∞ can no longer be regarded as a physical constant. That is, we have continued to conduct experiments to this day in an attempt to determine the value of a physical constant, the Rydberg constant, which does not exist in the natural world.