ASTR 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Radiant Energy, Niels Bohr, Emission Spectrum
1 Mar 2017
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A spectrum shows the amount of energy that is emitted at each wavelength. Isaac newton experimented on how to obtain a spectrum: newton"s experiment: 7 colours of the rainbow. Sunlight is the mixture of all colours. As the white incoming beam of light passes through a glass prism, it spread out into the colours of the rainbow or spectrum (plural = spectra) Certain colours were missing from the spectrum of the sun and appeared as dark lines among the colours of the continuous spectrum. To understand why a particular atom is only able to emit/absorb photons with a specific wavelength/energy we have to look at the atom"s structure. Nucleus made up of proton"s (+ charged) and neutrons (no charge: shells around the nucleus in which electrons (- charged) orbit, the # of electrons in the outer energy shell determines chemical properties of the atom.
