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Re: Energy level diagrams



At 07:36 PM 6/5/2004, BC, you wrote:
I'm still waiting for p and f. I Googled for about 10' and then gave
up. Anyone else know?

bc

>s,p,d,f stand for sharp, principal, diffuse, fundamental.
>The names (and abbreviations) come from the earliest work
>in spectroscopy -- any effort to sort out the various
>spectral lines, long before there was any understanding
>of atomic structure.
>
> http://www.google.com/search?q=3Dsharp+principal+diffuse=20
> http://w3.msi.vxu.se/~pku/Rydberg/LifeWork.html


Hmmm, in your note you quote the explanation (above)
that p stands for principal and f for fundamental, from the appearance
of the spectral lines in the spectroscope. So I have to suppose that
your continued puzzlement might be resolved if someone were
able to answer a question in this form:

"What atomic mechanisms determine the relative intensities of certain
lines which are bright enough to be called 'principal"?

And what features are said to be responsible for the absence of
emissions at nearby frequencies to that of a line feature in the
spectrometer which attracts the descriptor "fundamental". "

Is that it?



Brian Whatcott Altus OK Eureka!