Conquer the Kaplan Nursing Entrance 2026 – Prep, Practice, and Prosper!

An excited state for an electron occurs when it absorbs energy, causing it to move from a lower energy level to a higher one. When an electron is in this excited state, it is unstable and will eventually return to its ground state to achieve stability. During this transition back to the ground state, the electron releases energy in the form of light, which is emitted as photons. This process is fundamental to phenomena such as fluorescence and phosphorescence, where materials absorb energy and then release it as visible light.

The other options present scenarios that do not accurately represent the behavior of excited electrons. For example, an excited electron does not become part of the nucleus, nor does it stabilize the molecule inherently. Additionally, while an electron can revert to its ground state without releasing energy under certain conditions, this is not the typical or expected consequence of being in an excited state. The emission of light energy is a direct and observable outcome, making it the correct answer.