- #1
AStaunton
- 105
- 1
shining white light through a gas of a vapourised element causes absorbtion lines to be created in the white light spectrum ie. there are dark lines running through the otherwise continuous spectrum and the position of these lines are unique to particular element.
Why is it though that we see these lines at all considering that when an electron absorbs a photon it and goes into an excited state it is only there for a very short period of time before it re-emits a photon of that wavelength again, ie an atom absorbs the photon but then re-emits it very quickly after. I can't see then, why the effect is that we see dark lines.
Why is it though that we see these lines at all considering that when an electron absorbs a photon it and goes into an excited state it is only there for a very short period of time before it re-emits a photon of that wavelength again, ie an atom absorbs the photon but then re-emits it very quickly after. I can't see then, why the effect is that we see dark lines.