Absorption and Emission Spectra

[Sophia Olender 2J]

Could someone give just a simple explanation of how absorption and emission spectrums work? I understand that each line represents a wavelength of a certain light that is absorbed or emitted by the sample, but how are these spectrums made? What is the physical process for having these lines appear?

[Ainsley McCabe 2D]

The actual process for getting emission/absorption spectrums to appear is called spectroscopy and it is where a light source (electromagnetic radiation) is shined on the gas of that particular atom or molecule and the lines that appear are the wavelengths that are emitted or absorbed by that atom or molecule. Hopefully this helps!

[Hudson2J]

To get the lines to appear, you have to have a source of electromagnetic radiation that excites electrons in an atom. When they relax to a lower energy level, they emit light that hits a detector, producing the spectral lines.