Question

*2. Explain the difference between emission and
absorption spectra.​

Answer 1

Hint: When white light or radiation is passed through a prism a spectrum can be observed consisting of different colours, which could be termed as the continuous spectrum.

But when the electrons from an atom absorb energy from the surrounding and reaches a higher energy level from the ground state, it comes back to the ground state by release of energy which is not continuous and it forms a spectrum having two different components, which are absorption and emission spectrum.

Complete step-by-step answer:

In order to differentiate between the absorption and emission spectrum, we need to define both the terms. At first, in the case of emission spectrum, when the electrons of an atom absorb energy from the surrounding, it jumps from lower energy level to the higher ones. Now, when this electron returns to the ground state of the atom, it releases energy so as to become stable, as we know that higher the energy lesser is the stability. So this energy forms the emission spectrum.

In the absorption spectrum, the dark bands which are created during the process of the emission, constitute this spectrum. One of the major differences between the absorption spectrum and the emission spectrum is that the absorption spectrum has dark lines and the emission spectrum has different coloured lines.