Download The Electromagnetic Spectrum and Observing for Educators

YAAYS course:
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
and Observing for Educators
February 19, 2008
Rich Kron
from last week:
visible light, radio, infrared, X-rays etc. are all electromagnetic
radiation, differing only by energy
electromagnetic radiation can be considered to be a wave (with a
certain wavelength), or a particle (photon)
energy can be measured by frequency or by wavelength
almost everything we know about the Universe is decoded from
the light we receive from distant objects
Earth’s atmosphere transmits at some wavelengths and absorbs at
others
a spectrum (“rainbow”) is a representation of the number of
photons something emits according to the energy of each photon
there are different types of spectra
Types of Spectra
✦ emission
✦ continuous
✦ absorption
Discovering the Universe
Chapter 4
Types of Spectra
alternate titles:
How Light is Created and Absorbed
Properties of Glowing Objects
by measuring spectra, we can tell a lot about how
something radiates (how it “works”)
Bells and violin strings are
examples of systems that oscillate
at some particular frequency
(also overtones, harmonics,
modes).
You can add energy to these
systems if the energy is tuned to
that frequency.
You can also get energy out
(e.g. moving air).
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is another example
of a system with a particular frequency of
oscillation - energy was supplied by wind (1940).
Bridges are now designed so they don’t do this.
Rather, the energy goes into numerous small
vibrations that eventually turn into heat.
Lick Observatory, Mt.
Hamilton, CA
note the large fork of the
telescope mounting - can it
vibrate like a tuning fork?
Like a violin string, atoms can absorb energy
(photons) only at particular frequencies, and can
emit energy (photons) only at particular
frequencies.
The emission or absorption of light corresponds
to the transition of the atom between one state
or energy level and another.
The spectrum of hydrogen shows energy only at
specific wavelengths (“lines”).
Ephoton = Eatom(initial state) - Eatom(final state)
The structure of the spectrum of an atom hydrogen, helium, argon, etc. - is related to the
structure of the atom itself.
Niels Bohr
1885 - 1962
Danish
physicist
Johann Balmer
1825 - 1898
Swiss math teacher
hydrogen spectrum:
λ = const. × n2 / (n2 - 4)
Carlsberg brewery, Copenhagen
a low-density gas with energy
put into it (for example, via
electrical spark) emits light
with a line spectrum.
Gustav Kirchhoff, Robert Bunsen
Examples of line emission
neon light
street light
lightning
hot clouds of interstellar gas
upper atmosphere of the Sun
low-density gas near a black hole
simulated
spectrum of
lightning on
Jupiter
spectrum of hot interstellar gas: emission lines
spectrum of hot dense gas
near black hole: emission lines
all dense objects that are
hotter than their
surroundings radiate
the spectrum of the
radiation is continuous
(no “features”)
Examples of continuous emission
light bulb filament
hot lava
people
high-density gas near a black hole
interstellar dust particles
the Universe
gas spirals in
towards black hole,
heats up to high
temperature,
radiates X-rays, UV,
visible light
infrared image of interstellar dust particles in Cygnus
all-sky map - the Universe as revealed
by a telescope tuned to microwaves
Why does low-density hot gas emit a
line spectrum, while high-density hot
material emits a continuous spectrum?
the third kind of spectrum is called an
absorption spectrum: light is observed at
all wavelengths except specific ones
lower layers in the Sun are denser and hotter,
upper layers are less dense and transparent
light from the lower layers (continuous
spectrum) is absorbed by the cooler gas
through which it passes
Spectrum of daylight = spectrum of Sun
spectrum of Sun-like star
transparency of Earth’s atmosphere
visible
infrared
“A” is the naked core of the evolving
star that created the Ring Nebula
Summary: Types of Spectra
✦ hot, low-density gas emits a line spectrum
lots of diagnostics: atom, ion, isotope; pressure;
temperature; etc.
✦ hot, dense material (solid, liquid, dense gas)
emits a continuous spectrum
for a perfect radiator (black body), get only temperature
✦ astronomical sources are very often one of
these types