BRAINCAKEEmission and Absorption Line Spectra
Emission line spectrum: a hot gas at low pressure emits light at only certain wavelengths. Seen through a spectrometer, it is a series of bright coloured lines on a dark background. Each line is produced when electrons in the atoms drop from a higher energy level to a lower one, emitting photons of energy ΔE = hc/λ.
Continuous spectrum: a hot, dense object, such as a lamp filament or the dense interior of a star, emits all wavelengths over a range.
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All 24 lessons in Astrophysics and Cosmology · All OCR A-level Physics topics