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What do thick spectral lines mean?
Each point of the spectrum represents a particular wavelength or a frequency. Assuming this is an absorption spectrum, if there is a thick dark line, it means that photons of a particular range of wavelength have been absorbed by the atom.
Why are some spectra lines brighter than others?
In hydrogen spectrum,some spectral lines are brighter than others depending upon their energy level. When electron jumps from some higher orbit,the energy released in the from of photon will be greater,and we get a brighter line. Thus in hydrogen spectrum some lines are brighter than others.
Why are some absorption lines wider than others?
Absorption lines in giants, for example, tend to be causes by gas far out in the cooler atmosphere—and thus narrower lines, while those on dwarfs tend to come from hotter regions nearer the surface—and thus broader lines.
Why are some spectral lines intense and others faint?
The atom produces light of certain wavelengths. (Remember that light is both a photon and a wave!) The more atoms undergoing a particular transition, the more intense the emission line will be. The intensity depends on the density and temperature of the gas.
Why are spectral lines so thin?
Only photons with energies exactly equal to the energy difference between two energy levels can be emitted or absorbed. The result is a natural spread of photon energies around the spectral line. The longer an excited state exists (Δt), the narrower the line width so that metastable states can have very narrow lines.
What are spectral lines caused by?
Spectral lines are produced by transitions of electrons within atoms or ions. As the electrons move closer to or farther from the nucleus of an atom (or of an ion), energy in the form of light (or other radiation) is emitted or absorbed.…
What causes broadening of spectral lines?
In atomic physics, Doppler broadening is the broadening of spectral lines due to the Doppler effect caused by a distribution of velocities of atoms or molecules. Different velocities of the emitting particles result in different Doppler shifts, the cumulative effect of which is the line broadening.
Why do spectral lines have width?
For atoms and molecules, the width of spectral lines is governed mainly by the broadening of the energy levels of the atoms or molecules during interactions with surrounding particles and by the broadening of the spectral lines as a result of the Doppler effect.
Why do some elements have more spectral lines than others?
Because there are many allowed energy states above the ones that are filled in an element’s ground state electron configuration there are multiple spectral lines in a given element.
Why are spectral lines different for each element?
As the energy levels have different values, each of the possible electron transitions within an atom will produce a photon with a different energy. As a result each produces photons with different energy and so the line spectra for different elements will be different.
Why are spectrum unique to each element?
As each element has different energy states available to it, each element releases photons of different color when its atoms return to their lower energy states. Since each atom has many excited states (high energy levels) available to it, several colors of light can be emitted by each element.
Why do all elements not have the same spectral lines?
When atoms are excited they emit light of certain wavelengths which correspond to different colors. Each element produces a unique set of spectral lines. Since no two elements emit the same spectral lines, elements can be identified by their line spectrum.