![]() ![]() With that, they discovered a new way of identifying atoms and molecules: spectroscopy! They deduced that Fraunhofer lines were the product of atoms in the atmosphere ‘blocking’ some of the light, and that every atom had a characteristic wavelength. Kirchhoff and Bunsen had done experiments to probe the spectra of elements and were surprised to find that they emitted at the exact wavelengths that Fraunhofer’s spectral lines appeared. When widely dispersed, many colors were actually missing! These spectral lines (Fraunhofer lines) could not be explained until 1859, when Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen realized that they were due to the presence of certain atoms. His experiment using a glass prism to disperse white light into a rainbow of colors marks the beginning of spectroscopy: the study of different frequencies of light.Ī prism scattering different wavelengths of light: the beginnings of atomic theoryĪ certain Joseph Fraunhofer did the same experiment in 1814, but he noted that the spectrum was not continuous at all. Each color was associated with a distinct wavelength. Modern atomic theory has its roots in 1666 when Isaac Newton discovered that white light was composed of a whole range of colors. ![]() What is the smallest possible unit? Do different units really exist, or are they, at the most fundamental level, one and the same? These questions fueled the research of generations of scientists and philosophers, culminating in the quantum model we use today. Since the time of the ancient Greeks, philosophers have always questioned the nature of matter. It is definitely worth understanding the long and rich history of atomic theory. Many inventions and discoveries have been founded upon our knowledge of how the atom works. If all the knowledge of humanity was to be completely erased save for a single concept, which one should we choose to keep? The great physicist Richard Feynman once hypothesized that our best bet would be for the concept of atomic theory to stick around, such is its importance to science.
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