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I have two Spectroscopy questions from a "lab" I need to answer.
From what I know, Mercury doesn't just emmit blue, yellow, and green light, but also a very significant proportion of ultraviolet light. Since you can't see ultraviloet light, they pressurize the bulbs of Hg gas so it shifts the favorable frequency of light emmited to blue. Does that explain for the yellow and green wavelengths too? And/or the blue light is emmited more intensly, and thus is easier to see since it carries more energy?1. When do Mercury [gas] lights appear blue even though Mercuy also emmits yellow and green wavelengths of light?
This could be because ions have either gained or lost electrons (thats how they became ions), and electrons are what causes the emmition of light [ie. electrons absorb energy, then re-emmit it], if there are less/more electrons to absorb energy, the frequencies of the photons emmited might change from a normal atom.2. Why does the color emmited from ions in flame tests differ? {from normal atoms I suppose, the question is unclear}