180+ Hydrogen Atom Color Zdarma . In short, quantized energy levels release specific bands of light with unique colors. Neils bohr used the emission spectra of hydrogen to develop his model of the atom. Analysis of the helium (he) spectrum The hydrogen atom is the simplest atom in nature and, therefore, a good starting point to study atoms and atomic structure. The light emitted by hydrogen atoms is red because, of its four characteristic lines, the most intense line in its spectrum is in the red portion of the visible spectrum, at 656 nm.