🌑 ABSORPTION SPECTRA
PAGE 1 OF 5, THE REVERSE RAINBOW
DARK GAPS
WHAT IS ABSORPTION?
Pass white light through a cool gas and the spectrum no longer looks like a smooth rainbow. The gas absorbs photons whose energies match jumps its electrons can make. Those wavelengths vanish, leaving dark lines on the spectrum. It is the shadow version of emission.
🌑 ABSORB
Cool gas removes specific wavelengths from white light, creating dark absorption lines.
EAT!
WHITE LIGHT
🌈 Full range of colours together
💡 Continuous spectrum to start
🌑 Dark gaps appear in the rainbow
💡 Continuous spectrum to start
🌑 Dark gaps appear in the rainbow
COOL GAS
❄️ Gas not hot enough to glow much
📥 Electrons absorb matching photons
📊 Fingerprint still identifies the gas
📥 Electrons absorb matching photons
📊 Fingerprint still identifies the gas