Luminous Radiation from Hot Gases

Abstract

THE question as to whether normal gases become luminous when heated is of the greatest importance to those interested in the physics and chemistry of flame gases. Pringsheim did a great deal of work with the view of deciding this, and found that they remained dark at the highest temperature he could command in the laboratory¹. In recent books by Lewis and von Elbe² and Gaydon³, however, doubt is expressed whether at temperatures of the order of 2,000° C. they would still remain dark.