Negative electron gain energy for hydrogen atom means that

Options

A. the energy of an electron in an atom is lower than the energy of free electron at rest which is taken as zero.
B. when the electron is free from the influence of nucleus, it has a negative value which becomes more negative.
C. when the electron is attracted by the nucleus , the energy is absorbed which means a negative value.
D. energy is released by hydrogen atom in the ground state .

Answer

C

Explanation

The negative sign means that the energy of an electron in an atom is lower than the energy of the electron at rest. When the electron is free from the nucleus, the energy is taken as zero. When the electron is attracted towards the nucleus, its energy is emitted and gets lowered i.e., negative.