Abstract
When the sun’s rays are scattered by raindrops to produce a rainbow, or in a triangular glass prism (as in the famous early experiments of Sir Isaac Newton in 1666), the white light is separated into its constituent parts—the visible spectrum of primary colors. This rainbow spectrum is a minute part of a much larger continuum, called the electromagnetic spectrum: why ‘electromagnetic’?
‘In the year 1666 I procured me atriangular glass prism, to try therewith the celebrated phenomena of colours.’ His classic experiments constitute the firstscientific study of spectroscopy.
His mathematical analysis of periodic systems led to Fourier Transforms. Although he lived through the French Revolution, he was notable to witness the spectroscopic revolution associated with FT.
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Further Reading
Willard, H. H., Merritt, L. L., Dean, J. A. and Settle, F. A. Jr, Instrumental Methods of Analysis, Wadsworth, New York (7th edn, 1989).
Wayne, R. P., Fourier transformed, Chemistry in Britain, 23, 440 (1987).
Mills, I. (Ed.), Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, Blackwell, Oxford (1987).
Homann, K. H. (Ed.), The Abbreviated List of Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, Blackwell, Oxford (1987); indispensable, inexpensive.
Banwell, C. N., Fundamentals of Molecular Spectroscopy, McGraw-Hill, New York (3rd edn, 1983).
Barrow, G. M., Introduction to Molecular Spectroscopy, McGraw-Hill, New York (1962).
(These last two books dwell more on physical interpretations and introduce the mathematics of spectroscopy.)
Davis, R. and Wells, C. H. J., Spectral Problems in Organic Chemistry, Blackie, Glasgow (1984).
Supplementary Texts
Carrick, A., Computers and Instrumentation, Heyden, London (1979).
Hollas, J. M., Modern Spectroscopy, Wiley, Chichester (1986).
MacRae, M. (Ed.), Spectroscopy International, Aster Publishing Corp., Eugene, Oregon. Bimonthly magazine for spectroscopists and analytical chemists, discussing all of the spectroscopic techniques in this book, and several others; free to bona fide practitioners in Europe (including the UK). Instrument and accessory manufacturers publish information updates on their own products, and these useful documents are available free of charge.
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© 1991 William Kemp
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Kemp, W. (1991). Energy and the Electromagnetic Spectrum. In: Organic Spectroscopy. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15203-2_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-15203-2_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
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