alleryStart learning →A hot, thin gas viewed with no continuous source behind it shows which kind of spectrum?
AA bright line spectrum
BA dark line spectrum
CA continuous spectrum
DA blank white spectrum
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. A bright line spectrum
1. A gas hot enough to glow gives off light only at its own set of wavelengths.
2. With nothing behind it, those wavelengths appear as separate bright lines.
3. That pattern is called an emission or bright line spectrum.
4. Dark lines appear instead when a cool gas sits in front of a continuous source.
_Source: OpenStax Astronomy (CC BY 4.0), Ch 4 "Earth, Moon, and Sky" and Ch 5 "Radiation and Spectra", section 5.3 Spectroscopy in Astronomy_
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