
The spectrum of carbon arcs in air at high current densities
Publication year - 1927
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series a, containing papers of a mathematical and physical character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9150
pISSN - 0950-1207
DOI - 10.1098/rspa.1927.0172
Subject(s) - arc (geometry) , helium , current (fluid) , carbon arc welding , spectral line , optics , current density , arc lamp , chemistry , materials science , atomic physics , physics , laser , mathematics , geometry , astronomy , laser beam welding , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics , shielding gas
Although the spectrum of the ordinary carbon arc has been studied in great detail during the last 70 years, there seems to have been no similar study of the “High Current Density” arc which was introduced by Beck in 1914. Spectrophotometrical measurements have been made in connection with the development of this type of arc for searchlights, and photographs of the spectra obtained from the total radiation from the arc have been published. The only account, however, of the spectrum from individual parts of the arc appears in a short note by Bell and Bassett. They examined an image of the arc on a ground glass screen with a direct vision spectroscope and reported that in the arc stream 15 lines appeared when the current exceeded 100 amperes. They attributed 7 of these to helium and 2 to hydrogen.