What is a continuous spectrum?

Give one source of a continuous spectrum.

How does a continuous spectrum differ from an atomic line spectrum?

State Wien's displacement law.

If the temperature of a thermal source increases, what happens to the peak wavelength?

A thermal spectrum peaks at \(500\,\mathrm{nm}\). Estimate the temperature using \(b=2.90\times10^{-3}\,\mathrm{m\,K}\).

A hot object has temperature \(3000\,\mathrm K\). Estimate the peak wavelength.

Why does a heated solid usually emit a continuous spectrum rather than isolated atomic lines?

An electron loses \(20.0\,\mathrm{keV}\) in one braking event. What is the maximum photon energy emitted?

For an X-ray tube with accelerating voltage \(40.0\,\mathrm{kV}\), estimate the shortest wavelength in the bremsstrahlung spectrum.

Why does a bremsstrahlung spectrum have a short-wavelength cutoff?

Derive \(\lambda_{\min}=hc/(eV)\) for an X-ray tube.

An X-ray tube voltage is doubled. What happens to the short-wavelength cutoff?

Why can line spectra appear on top of an X-ray continuous spectrum?

A star's spectrum peaks at shorter wavelength than the Sun's. What does that imply about its surface temperature?

Derive how the thermal peak wavelength scales with temperature.

Explain why a continuous spectrum does not contradict quantized atomic energy levels.

A continuous spectrum has a cutoff at \(0.050\,\mathrm{nm}\). Estimate the accelerating voltage of the X-ray tube.

Why is the endpoint of an X-ray continuum more directly linked to voltage than to target material?

Connect thermal continua, bremsstrahlung continua, and line spectra through photon energy.