Pleasant Ways in ScienceProctor, Richard A. (Richard Anthony)
Science
Pleasant Ways in Science
Proctor, Richard A. (Richard Anthony)
Science
In support of the important statement here advanced, Dr. Draper submits
a photograph of part of the solar spectrum with a comparison spectrum
of air, and also with some of the lines of iron and aluminium. The
photograph itself, a copy of which, kindly sent to me by Dr. Draper,
lies before me as I write, fully bears out Dr. Draper’s statement. It
is absolutely free from handwork or retouching, except that reference
letters have been added in the negative. It shows the part of the solar
spectrum between the well-known Fraunhofer lines G and H, of which G
(an iron line) lies in the indigo, and H (a line of hydrogen) in the
violet, so that the portion photographed belongs to that region of
the spectrum whose chemical or actinic energy is strongest. Adjacent
to this lies the photograph of the air lines, showing nine or ten
well-defined oxygen lines or groups of lines, and two nitrogen bands.
The exact agreement of the two spectra in position is indicated by
the coincidence of bright lines of iron and aluminium included in the
air spectrum with the dark lines of the same elements in the solar
spectrum. “No close observation,” as Dr. Draper truly remarks, “is
needed to demonstrate to even the most casual observer” (of this
photograph) “that the oxygen lines are found in the sun as bright
lines.” There is in particular one quadruple group of oxygen lines in
the air spectrum, the coincidence of which with a group of bright lines
in the solar spectrum is unmistakable.
“This oxygen group alone is almost sufficient,” says Dr. Draper, “to
prove the presence of oxygen in the sun, for not only does each of
the four components have a representative in the solar group, but the
relative strength and the general aspect of the lines in each case is
similar.[4] I shall not attempt at this time,” he proceeds, “to give
a complete list of the oxygen lines, ... and it will be noticed that
some lines in the air spectrum which have bright anologues in the sun
are not marked with the symbol of oxygen. This is because there has not
yet been an opportunity to make the necessary detailed comparisons. In
order to be certain that a line belongs to oxygen, I have compared,
under various pressures, the spectra of air, oxygen, nitrogen, carbonic
acid, carburetted hydrogen, hydrogen, and cyanogen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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