A Brief Overview of Spectroscopy

by David Devaney

Introduction Broadly speaking, spectroscopy is the term used to refer to a diverse group of experimental techniques used to study the interactions between radiated energy and matter.[1][2] Historically, spectroscopy only referred to the interactions of visible light dispersed through prisms with matter,[1] but spectroscopy has since developed, and now describes a vast array of techniques that have important applications in innumerable areas of research. The purpose of this essay is to provide a brief insight into the history of spectroscopy, from where and how it originated, the first techniques to have been developed and used, the pioneers of the practices and the discoveries and the advancements in fields of science that spectroscopy helped to achieve. Pioneers The earliest reference to spectroscopy known in modern times appears in Isaac Newtons Opticks.[3] Newton describes various experiments with available sources of white light and prisms to split light into what he referred to as a spectrum of colours.[4] There was little progress in the study of spectroscopy in the decades after Newtons experiments until William Hyde Wollaston observed dark bands in the optical spectrum of solar light, which he ascribed as the division between the colours of the split light.[4][5] What he had in fact discovered were the Fraunhofer lines. Josef von Fraunhofer, after whom the Fraunhofer lines are named, independently rediscovered the dark lines first observed by Wollaston, and systematically studied and made careful measurements of their wavelengths. He discounted Wollastons colour boundary interpretation, noting that the spectra, hence the positioning of the dark lines of the sun and the stars differed, but did not guess or deduce the origin of the lines. [4][6] That was until Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen discovered the currently accepted explanation. Kirchhoff and Bunsen discovered that chemical elements produced Fraunhofer lines at specific wavelengths, which led to them reasoning that the Fraunhofer lines present in the spectra of sunlight were a result of chemical elements in the atmosphere of the Sun absorbing certain frequencies of white light. [4][7] Through this process, Kirchhoff and Bunsen established the technique of analytical spectroscopy, allowing for the identification of the elements present in materials based on their spectra.[7] Techniques As spectroscopy has developed, many numerous techniques have been devised as tools to better understand the world around us. Below are some common types of spectroscopic techniques, how they operate and their applications. Absorption spectroscopy is a technique used to determine the concentration and structure of a substance, and the technique operates by determining the amount of electromagnetic radiation absorbed by said substance.[8] One useful application of the technique is for deducing the composition of the atmospheres of exoplanets, for the substances in their atmospheres absorb some of the radiation from their respective stars, producing spectral absorption lines which can be used to identify the elements their atmospheres contain.

Emission spectroscopy is a technique used to determine similar things to absorption spectroscopy, but rather than observing which parts of the electromagnetic spectrum are absorbed, it involves observing which parts of the spectrum are emitted by a particular substance. The emissions of radiation are as a result of electrons in atoms absorbing specific frequencies of light, thus moving to higher energy levels, and then decreasing in energy level, emitting electromagnetic radiation with a frequency corresponding to the energy gap between the two energy levels. [8] It was this form of spectroscopy that resulted in the discovery of Helium by Pierre Janssen, who observed spectral emission lines of a previously unidentified element in the emission spectrum of solar light, hence the name Helium, after the Greek word for the sun, Helios. [9] Infrared spectroscopy is used to measure the absorption of infrared radiation by chemical bonds, and the technique is a useful tool at the disposal of chemists to determine the structure of molecules. [10] Mass spectroscopy involves the use of a mass spectrometer to yield atomic and molecular spectrums.[11] A mass spectrometer operates by ionising a sample to generate charged molecules or charged fragments of molecules, and accelerating them in a vacuum through a magnetic field, with the amount of deflection by any particular ion due to its mass-to-charge ratio, thus the ions are separated by mass.[11][12] Conclusion Spectroscopy has developed tremendously since the pioneers first ventured into its study centuries ago, and today, its practice and its applications are more relevant and useful as ever, and it continues to yield spectacular discoveries and functions as an essential tool in many different forms in many diverse forms of study.

[1]

http://www.news-medical.net/health/Spectroscopy-What-is-Spectroscopy.aspx (Accessed 22/11/2013)

[2]

http://app.knovel.com/web/view/html/show.v/cid:kt002YT2D2/viewerType:html/root_slug:spectroscopy/url_slug:spectroscopy?q=spectro scopy%20introduction&b-q=spectroscopy%20introduction&b-group-by=true&page=1 (Accessed 22/11/2013)

[3]

Newton, Isaac (1704) Opticks or, a treatise of the reflexions, refractions, inflexions and colours of light: also two treatises of the species and magnitude of curvilinear figures.
[4]

http://app.knovel.com/web/view/swf/show.v/cid:kt0084LWE3/root_slug:spectrograph-designfundamentals?cid=kt0084LWE3&page=1&q=history%20spectroscopy&b-q=history%20spectroscopy&b-group-by=true (Accessed 22/11/2013)

[5]

http://telescoper.wordpress.com/tag/william-hyde-wollaston/ (Accessed 22/11/2013) http://laserstars.org/spectra/Fraunhofer.html (Accessed 22/11/2013)

[6]

[7]

http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/online-resources/chemistry-in-history/themes/the-path-to-the-periodic-table/bunsen-andkirchhoff.aspx (Accessed 22/11/2013)

[8]

http://app.knovel.com/web/view/swf/show.v/cid:kt005ZVOY6/root_slug:dictionary-ofenergy?cid=kt005ZVOY6&page=2&q=absorption%20spectroscopy&b-q=absorption%20spectroscopy&b-group-by=true (Accessed 23/11/2013)

[9]

http://www.universetoday.com/53563/who-discovered-helium/ (Accessed 23/11/2013)

[10]

http://app.knovel.com/web/view/swf/show.v/cid:kt003VV0B1/root_slug:encyclopediatextile?cid=kt003VV0B1&page=38&q=infrared%20spectroscopy&b-q=infrared%20spectroscopy&b-group-by=true (Accessed 23/11/2013)

[11]

http://app.knovel.com/web/view/swf/show.v/cid:kt008EGO91/root_slug:wiley-electricalelectronics?cid=kt008EGO91&page=3&q=mass%20spectroscopy&b-q=mass%20spectroscopy&b-group-by=true (Accessed 23/11/2013)

[12]

http://chemistry.about.com/od/analyticalchemistry/a/spectroscopy.htm (Accessed 23/11/2013)