Author: BIGS 2001 (C. Bluck, J. Gans, A. Gleixner, Prof. W. Heimbrodt, Dr. Maddocks, S. Stallmann)
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Explanation
Key to diagram
R – tube with glowing gas
Sp – plate with slit to admit light
Ko – collimator; Pr – glass prism
The light emitted by the gas atoms excited to luminescence is separated into its spectral components in the prism by diffraction and dispersion. The illustration shows a line spectrum typical of gases. Spectrometers of this type can be used for identifying the elements present in an unknown substance. The spectral lines betray each element continued in the substance.
(see also our animation "Spectral series of hydrogen")
