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On Fri, 30 Jan 1998 07:07:30 -0600 brian whatcott said:
As Kirchhoff pointed out in connection with thermal radiation, good
absorbers are in general good emitters. (In fact Prevost [1792] said
as much.)
So these 'absorption' lines do not in fact represent a loss of flux -
rather a contrast effect with the continuum radiation surrounding.
My understanding was that when the hydrogen etc. absorb photons that were
directed toward me, they reradiate photons in all directions and therefore
I see fewer photons than I would have if the gasses had not been there.
Hence dark lines. However, this does not seem to help understanding of
the experiment Bob Sciamanda describes. Any insights?