Abstract
IN recent papers I have discussed the continuous spectrum of mercury and its association with the resonance line λ2537. Prof. R. W. Wood showed in 1909 that the green visual fluorescence of mercury vapour with continuous spectrum was destroyed by a red heat. I have recently studied the effect of heat on a stream of mercury vapour, showing the continuous spectrum as it distilled away from the electric discharge in which it originated. The visual glow disappeared, as might be anticipated from Wood's result. I thought it very probable that this was to be explained by the dissociation of mercury molecules which give rise to the (apparently) continuous spectrum. It was of interest to see whether the resonance line due to the atom would survive.
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RAYLEIGH The Continuous Spectrum of Mercury. Nature 118, 767 (1926). https://doi.org/10.1038/118767a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/118767a0
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