Question

Why can radiation emitted by rarefied gases be considered to arise from individual atoms?

Options

• Most of the mass is concentrated in the nucleus.

• The positive charge is uniformly distributed.

• The average spacing between atoms is large.

• The gases emit a continuous distribution of wavelengths.

Answer 1

In rarefied gases, the average spacing between atoms is large. Their radiation can therefore be considered to arise from individual atoms rather than interactions between atoms or molecules.