Abstract
PERHAPS some of your readers may be glad to learn that the curious phenomena of the spectrum top can be shown on a screen to a large audience. It is only necessary to paint the usual black lines and sector on a suitable disc of glass, and then to mount it in a revolving stage which can be rotated in a lantern by means of a multiplying wheel. The projected disc of light must not be too large; if the lime-light be used the disc may be about 2 feet in diameter, and about double that size with the electric arc. A great variety of effects can be obtained by interposing coloured glasses in the path of the beam; e.g. with a green glass, and in diffused gas-light, the dark sector and lines appear to be mauve-coloured when suddenly stopped after rapid rotation, or when very slowly rotated, but become of a dark blue when the gas is turned off. On rotating the disc in the usual way the lines appear to be blue, green, and violet.
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TURNER, D. The Spectrum Top. Nature 51, 438 (1895). https://doi.org/10.1038/051438b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/051438b0
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