what can be used to identify unknown atoms
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Answer:
Light contains energy. If an atom has extra energy, it can get rid of it by sending out a little packet of light, called a photon. It also works the other way around: if a photon comes near an atom that could use some extra energy, the photon can be absorbed by the atom. When scientists first started accurately measuring spectra, one of the things that confused them was that many spectra were discontinuous. That is, when sodium was burned, its spectrum wasn't a smooth spread of yellow light -- it was a couple distinct, tiny bands of yellow. And every other atom is the same way. It's as if the electrons in the atoms could only absorb and emit a very narrow range of energies -- and that turned out to be exactly the case.
Each natural element has a characteristic light spectrum that helps identify it in samples of unknown substances. Spectroscopy is the practice of examining spectra and comparing them to those of known elements. Using spectroscopy methods, scientists can identify pure substances or compounds and the elements in them...
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