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Which element was identified in the Sun before anyone found it on Earth?
ASodium
BHelium
CCalcium
DHydrogen
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: B. Helium
1. Each element leaves its own pattern of lines in a spectrum.
2. One pattern in sunlight matched nothing known in the laboratory at the time.
3. It was helium, found first in the Sun and only later identified on Earth.
4. Sodium was the first element identified in the Sun, but it was already known here.
_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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