Sunlight absorption spectrum and colors in sunlight

[Karagoz]

Hi.

In physics articles, they say that sun light is white, and contain all colors.

But they show say that the Sun's atmosphere absorb light at certain wavelengths, causing the intensity of the light at this wavelength to drop and appear dark.

And the absorption spectrum looks like this:

Does those black lines on the sun light spectrum show that the sunlight that reach the Earth doesn't contain all colors?

 

[Bandersnatch]

Can you describe your understanding of what is the difference between 'all wavelengths' and 'all colours'?

 

[Karagoz]

But if all visible wavelengths are not contained in sunlight, doesn't it mean also that all colors are not contained in that sunlight?

 

[Bandersnatch]

You haven't answered my question. I'm not trying to be clever here, nor mean - I'm just asking you to try and define what it means to see all colours. What it means to perceive light as white?
Is 650 nm a colour? Is a combination of two discrete wavelengths a colour?

 

[pixel]

Does those black lines on the sun light spectrum show that the sunlight that reach the Earth doesn't contain all colors?

I'll assume here that OP is asking whether sunlight contains all wavelengths in the visible spectrum (realizing there is a technical difference between wavelengths and colors). The black lines are indeed wavelengths that are missing from the solar spectrum. Substances in the sun are absorbing those wavelengths from the continuous spectrum of light generated in the sun.

 

[Bandersnatch]

The black lines are indeed wavelengths that are missing from the solar spectrum.

There are not, though (in general). Absorption lines do not mean that that wavelength was entirely removed - there's just less of it than we'd normally expect.

 

[Charles Link]

The atomic absorption lines are narrow enough in $\Delta \lambda$ that they do not block what could be considered an entire color. The wavelength of 650 nm (that might be blocked) is essentially the same color as the wavelengths 651-655 nm. The question the OP is asking is really splitting hairs. In making the statement "sunlight contains all the colors of the visible spectrum", I don't think any qualifying statements or disclaimers need to be included. And even at these absorption wavelengths, there is still some light at those wavelengths. It is simply dimmer than the adjacent wavelengths. $\\$ And just an item of interest: What are two very prominent absorption lines in the spectrum right at $\lambda =589.0\, nm$ and $\lambda =589.6 \, nm$ are no doubt the Na =sodium absorption lines. A sodium arc lamp radiates very strongly at these wavelengths. A couple of the other absorption lines would be due to electronic transitions in the hydrogen atom. These include $\lambda=410.1, 434.0, 486.1,$ and $656.2 \, nm$. Some additional googling gives the results that these are known as the Fraunhofer absorption lines in the solar spectrum, and a complete table of these lines with the associated atom was found in one article.

 

[pixel]

There are not, though (in general). Absorption lines do not mean that that wavelength was entirely removed - there's just less of it than we'd normally expect.

Right, and the form of the absorption line depends on the resolution of the recording instrument. So even if all of a particular wavelength were removed, it might not appear that way in the recording as light from nearby wavelengths will encroach.