Science · 6 pages · 12 min
How a spectrometer reads a gas by its lines
A spectrometer identifies a gas from narrow lines set by that gas's energy jumps.
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From the opening
A spectrometer spreads light by wavelength so that narrow bright or dark lines become visible against a broader glow. A gas imprints those lines at wavelengths fixed by the energy jumps its atoms and molecules can make, and the pattern identifies the gas more reliably than a color does. The opening covers emission lines and absorption lines, why molecules add more lines, and what a shift of the pattern means.
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Inside
- Emission lines and absorption lines
- Why molecules add more lines
- What a shift of the pattern means
- When pressure erases the lines
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Fraunhofer lines matched to laboratory spectra
- Atomic energy levels and spectral lines