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(19.5) Spectra

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Tristan Pagden
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7 views3 pages

(19.5) Spectra

Uploaded by

Tristan Pagden
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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(19.

5) Spectra

There are three kinds of spectra.

 Emission line spectra – each element produces a unique emission line


spectrum because of its unique set of energy levels.
 Continuous spectra – All visible frequencies or wavelengths are preset.
The atoms of a heated solid metal will produce this type of spectrum.
 Absorption line spectra – this type of spectrum has a series of dark
spectral lines against the background of a continuous spectrum. The
dark lines have exactly the same wavelengths as the bright emissions
spectral lines for the same gas atoms.

If the atoms in gases are excited (e.g. within the hot environment of stars),
then when the electrons drop back into lower energy levels, they emit
photons with a set of discrete frequencies specific to that element. This
produces a characteristic emission line spectrum. Each spectral line
corresponds to photons with a specific wavelength. These spectra can be
observed in a laboratory from heated gases.

Each coloured line above represents a


unique wavelength (or frequency) of photon emitted when an electron
moves between two specific energy levels.

An absorption line spectrum is formed when light from a source that


produces a continuous spectrum passes through a cooler gas. As the photons
pass through the gas, some are absorbed by the gas atoms, raising electrons
up into higher energy levels and so exciting the atoms. Only photons with
energy exactly equal to the difference between the between the different
energy levels are absorbed. This means that only specific wavelengths are
absorbed, creating dark lines in the spectrum.

These lines show which photons have been absorbed by the gas atoms.
Although the photons are re-emitted when the electron drops back down to a
lower energy level atom, they are emitted in all possible directions, so the
intensity in the original direction is greatly reduced
The absorption line spectrum for any gas is very nearly a negative of its

emission line spectrum. In fact, a few lines from


the emission spectrum may not be visible in the absorption line spectrum,
simply because in the excited atoms electrons may return to their ground
state in stages, releasing a photon each time, whereas absorption lines are
mostly caused by electrons staring from their ground state.

When light from a star is analyzed, it is found to be an absorption line


spectrum. Some wavelengths of light are missing – the photons have been
absorbed by atoms of cooler gas in the outer layers of the star.

If we know the lines spectrum for a particular element, we can check


whether the element is present in the star, even for extremely distant stars.
If a particular element is present, they its characteristic pattern of spectral
lines will appear as dark lines in the absorption line spectrum.

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