What is a natural phenomenon that exhibits a continuous spectrum?

Answer 1

A continuous spectrum is produced when white light passes through a prism or when hot gas is heated to incandescence. In either case the light is separated into its component colors based on their different wavelengths. All the colors of the visible spectrum from red to violet are present in the resulting continuous spectrum.

When white light passes through a prism the individual wavelengths of light are bent at different angles separating the light into a spectrum. This is known as dispersion. The prism separates the wavelengths of light into visible colors with the shortest wavelength being the color red and the longest wavelength being the color violet.

When hot gas is heated to incandescence the gas molecules become excited and emit light. The light produced is a continuous spectrum because all the wavelengths of visible light are present. The intensity of the emitted light varies with the wavelength with the shortest wavelength having the greatest intensity and the longest wavelength having the least intensity.

Answer 2

When a ray of white is passed through a glass prism, it splits up into its seven constituent colors namely Violet, Indigo,Blue,Green,Yellow,Orange and Red(can be learned as VIBGYOR). The splitting occurs due to the different wavelengths of light with red having the maximum wavelength and violet the least. When these colors are obtained on a white screen, the obtained band is call spectrum.

Answer 3

It depends on what you mean by a "continuous", but if you mean a spectrum that has no gaps, then the answer is that there is nothing that can achieve that.

A light spectrum may appear to be continuous and, in that sense, the black body energy spectrum would be the closest thing to a continuous spectra, but it never is.

Whenever a part of the spectrum appears continuous, augmenting the resolution of the method, with which you analyze the light, always shows there is more than one frequency separated from the others in that space.

This is how the composition of stars is determined: although the light of a star will seem to produce a continuous spectrum when passed through a prism, the fact is it is not: the different frequency patterns present correspond to different components of the star's mass.

There is no known physical circumstance under which all frequencies, or an interval of frequencies, of light are emitted, even using different sources.

Emission by chemical, atomic and particle reactions are all quantified and strictly separated from each other.

The most someone could ask for would be to have all frequencies separated by energy gaps at the Planck Scale, the smallest (predicted) scale of everything in the universe, but that's pushing the edges of physics and would still not be a continuous spectrum.

Answer 4

Well, you'll only observe a continuous spectrum if the light source is of that nature.

It is instructive to hold the shiny side of a compact disc to a fluorescent light at a grazing incidence. This simulates a primitive diffraction grating.

You'll see several distinct groups of different colours, each representing the contribution of one of the several phosphors in the tube.

Answer 5

A continuous spectrum is produced by exciting atoms with electricity or radiation and the atoms of different elements give off radiation specific to the element. If all elements are present a continuous spectrum will be produced otherwise a bright line spectrum will be produced by the elements present.

Answer 6

Continuous spectra of light are formed by all forms of white light. This includes light produced by common light bulbs like incandescent and fluorescents.

Answer 7

Continuous spectrum as an "astronomical thermometer:

Answer 8

The sun is a hot solid that produces infrared which allows us to see every band of light which makes up the continuous line spectrum.

Answer 9

The ozone formation and depletion is a continues spectrum.It is carried out by UV rays.