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Re: continuous spectra



If atoms are ionized then recombination can give rise to a
continuous range of wave lengths.
Regards,
Jack

Adam was by constitution and proclivity a scientist; I was the same, and
we loved to call ourselves by that great name...Our first memorable
scientific discovery was the law that water and like fluids run downhill,
not up.
Mark Twain, <Extract from Eve's Autobiography>

On Thu, 11 May 2000, GARY HEMMINGER wrote:

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
*******************************************