The Continuous Spectrum of Hydrogen

Effect of the source on the continuous spectrum of hydrogen---The continuous spectrum of hydrogen is observed to be of similar character, although of differing intensity, in a number of sources, a Wood tube, an ordinary discharge tube, the separate striations of the positive column, the condensed spark in hydrogen at pressures above atmospheric, and in the water spark. It is of appreciable intensity near Hα, rises slowly to a maximum in the near ultra-violet and descends slowly in intensity from λ300 to 220{μ}{μ}.Theory of the continuous spectrum of hydrogen.---Bohr's idea, which attributes a continuous spectrum near the Balmer lines to an electron plunging from an unquantized energy region to the second orbit, together with Wright's theory that such unquantization may exist from any given orbit outwards, is given statistical formulation on the assumption that the plunging electrons obey a Maxwellian law of distribution. A formula for the distribution of energy across the continuous spectrum is obtained which involves an unknown probability, aₙ, that the atom exist through the nth orbit, the region beyond being unquantized. When aₙ is evaluated roughly from general physical considerations the formula agrees qualitatively with the continuous spectra observed in the hydrogen stars and the laboratory sources. It is recognized that the theory is a simple type of the more general theory of retardation spectra.