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What is emission and absorption spectra?

What is emission and absorption spectra?

The emission spectrum is the spectrum of radiation emitted by a substance that has absorbed energy. The absorption spectrum is the opposite of the emission spectrum. It is the spectrum formed by electromagnetic radiation that has passed through a medium, in which radiation of some frequencies is absorbed.

How do you know if its emission spectra or absorption spectra?

The difference between absorption and emission spectra are that absorption lines are where light has been absorbed by the atom thus you see a dip in the spectrum whereas emission spectra have spikes in the spectra due to atoms releasing photons at those wavelengths.

How might a chemist use emission spectra in a lab?

Since each atom has many excited states (high energy levels) available to it, several colors of light can be emitted by each element. Since the spectrum of each element is unique, spectra can be used like fingerprints to identify unknown elements.

What is the difference between continuous emission and absorption spectra?

Emission Spectra Vs Absorption Spectra: The major difference between the emission spectrum and the absorption spectrum is that the absorption spectrum is continuous spectra whereas the emission spectrum is the discontinuous or line spectra. The absorption spectra are obtained when atoms absorb energy.

What are the characteristics of absorption spectra?

An absorption spectrum occurs when light passes through a cold, dilute gas and atoms in the gas absorb at characteristic frequencies; since the re-emitted light is unlikely to be emitted in the same direction as the absorbed photon, this gives rise to dark lines (absence of light) in the spectrum.

Why do elements have different emission spectra?

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.

What is the emission spectra used for?

The emission spectrum can be used to determine the composition of a material, since it is different for each element of the periodic table. One example is astronomical spectroscopy: identifying the composition of stars by analysing the received light.

Why do we use emission spectra?

The different colors of light produced by emission spectra of different elements allows them to be identified. So elements can be identified by the colors their atoms produce when energy (by heating or electric current) is used to reveal their emission fingerprints.

How do you measure absorption spectra?

Absorption spectra are measured by varying the wavelength of the incident light using a monochromator and recording the intensity of transmitted light on a detector.

What are the different types of absorption spectra?

Absorption spectroscopy

Sr. No Electromagnetic Radiation Spectroscopic type
1 X-ray X-ray absorption spectroscopy
2 Ultraviolet–visible UV–vis absorption spectroscopy
3 Infrared IR absorption spectroscopy
4 Microwave Microwave absorption spectroscopy