Astudent analyzes the emission spectrum of an unknown element and observes strong lines at the following wavelengths:
656 nm, 486 nm, 434 nm.
which absorption spectrum is the student most likely viewing?

The first absorption spectrum

Explanation:

First of all, we need to assign the given absorption wavelengths to the colors they correspond to. I will be attaching a table with wavelength ranges and their corresponding colors for reference.

Our first absorption is at 656 nm, which corresponds to the red color in the visible light spectrum.

Our second absorption is at 486 nm, which corresponds to the cyan color in the visible light spectrum.

Our third absorption is at 434 nm, which corresponds to the violet color in the visible light spectrum.

Notice that we have 3 major absorption values at red, cyan and violet regions seen in the first spectrum. The second one has a very distinct absorption within the blue region, and we don't have any major absorption given for the blue color.

the number of valence electrons for each molecule or ion is shown beneath the structure. remember hydrogen will not have more than two electrons. this hydrogen is part of a covalent bond (sharing two electrons). a double bond here would cause hydrogen to share four electrons with phosphorus.