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What is spectrum of light?

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Solution

In the 17th century, the word spectrum was introduced into optics by Isaac Newton, referring to the range of colors observed when white light was dispersed through a prism.Soon the term referred to a plot of light intensity or power as a function of frequency or wavelength, also known as a spectral density plot.

The term spectrum was expanded to apply to other waves, such as sound waves that could also be measured as a function of frequency, frequency spectrum and power spectrum of a signal. The term now applies to any signal that can be measured or decomposed along a continuous variable such as energy in electron spectroscopy or mass-to-charge ratio in mass spectrometry. Spectrum is also used to refer to a graphical representation of the signal as a function of the dependent variable.
Electromagnetic spectrum refers to the full range of all frequencies of electromagnetic radiation[4] and also to the characteristic distribution of electromagnetic radiation emitted or absorbed by that particular object.


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