XV. On the spectrum of water

• Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 1880
• Subjects: Carbonic acid
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspl.1879.0168; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspl.1879.0168

In our last communication to the Society, “ On the Spectrum of the Compounds of Carbon with Hydrogen and Nitrogen, No. II,” we noticed that a remarkable series of lines, extending over the region between the lines S and R of the s'olar spectrum, were developed in the flame of coal-gas burning in oxygen. The arrangement of lines and bands, of which this spectrum consists, is shown m the accompany­ing diagram, fig. 1. It begins at the more refrangible end with two strong bands, with wave-lengths about 3062, 3068, and extends up to about the wave-length 3210. It is well developed in the flame of hydrogen as well as of hydrocarbons, burning in oxygen, and less strongly in the flames of non-hydrogenous gases, such as carbonic oxide and cyano­gen, if burnt in moist oxygen. Special pains were taken to purify the gases from sulphur. The same spectrum is given by the electric spark taken, without condenser, in moist hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid gas, but it disappears if the gas and apparatus be thoroughly dried. We are led to the conclusion that the spec­trum is that of water.