The question has arisen in one of my classes - are continuous
spectra truly continuous? I'm wondering about this from both a
theoretical and practical point of view. Does theory say that there
are an infinite number of wavelengths emitted in the visible range for
example by a black body, or is there simply a finite but sufficiently
large number of emission lines that the spectrum appears
continuous? Is the limited resolution of our equipment an issue?
*****************************************
Gary Hemminger
Dwight-Engelwood School
315 E. Palisade Ave.
Englewood, New Jersey
07631
e-mail: hemmig@d-e.org
*******************************************