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- Current: Jul 10, 2021
Spectrum
In a broad sense, a spectrum (spectra in plural) is an ordered arrangement of a certain characteristic.
The term “spectrum” is originally used in optics to describe the rainbow, a spectrum of visible colors separated by a prism. This concept is later expanded to the entire electromagnetic waves and even to other continua, creating various words such as the “autism spectrum disorder.”
There are several ways to classify spectra.
- Absorption specta and emission spectra.
- Line spectra and continuous spectra.
A line emission spectrum of iron:
Definitions in the literature
- A range of electromagnetic energies arrayed in order of increasing or decreasing wavelength or frequency [1].
- a: a continuum of color formed when a beam of white light is dispersed (as by passage through a prism) so that its component wavelengths are arranged in order [2].
- b: any of various continua that resemble a color spectrum in consisting of an ordered arrangement by a particular characteristic... [2].
Images
Public Domain images will be uploaded here.
A rainbow.
