Hi guys, i am having a particularly annoying night. I am having what could be considered, the opposite of an epiphany! I am trying to understand absorption spectra. Emission spectra is simple by comparison in that atoms can only emmit radiation from certain jumps pertaining to the makeup of the atom. But what i am not understanding here is why atoms only absorb certain frequencies in the absorption spectra models? In photoelectric effect experiments we did in physics, the higher the frequency of the incident light on the photocathode, the higher the kinetic energy of the emitted electron. So howcome, in absorption spectra, higher frequency photons dont get absorbed and pass through unimpeded? There is something i am clearly missing here!
This line of thought led me to think about how is it that some materials transmit light and some dont. I have spent over an hour googling this stuff and its not really helping a whole lot.
One more question, how does light propagate through a transparent material?
Thanks in advance!
This line of thought led me to think about how is it that some materials transmit light and some dont. I have spent over an hour googling this stuff and its not really helping a whole lot.
One more question, how does light propagate through a transparent material?
Thanks in advance!