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Melanie Shebel
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What is a "hydrogen-like" or "hydrogenic" atom?

I'm studying some chemistry on my own in anticipation of the new school year and in my book, I came across the Rydberg equation for the first time. I worked through some examples and everything was fine until I came across this comment on the question, "Calculate the wavelength of the radiation released when an electron moves from n=5 to n=2":

For future reference: the Rydberg formula only works for hydrogen-like atoms.

What is meant by "hydrogen-like"? I've heard that solving for multi-electron systems is (near) impossible, so I understand why hydrogen is used here, but I don't understand what "hydrogen-like" is.

Melanie Shebel
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