Answer to Question #156442 in General Chemistry for Winterbear

Question

how matter-

radiation interaction would produce different spectroscopic modalities of. Also mention 

what parameters would it be involved in generating spectra?

Answer 1

Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation.

In simpler terms, spectroscopy is the precise study of color as generalized from visible light to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum; indeed, historically, spectroscopy originated as the study of the wavelength dependence of the absorption by gas phase matter of visible light dispersed by a prism. Matter waves and acoustic waves can also be considered forms of radiative energy, and recently gravitational waves have been associated with a spectral signature in the context of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

Spectroscopy, primarily in the electromagnetic spectrum, is a fundamental exploratory tool in the fields of physics, chemistry, and astronomy, allowing the composition, physical structure and electronic structure of matter to be investigated at the atomic, molecular and macro scale, and over astronomical distances. Important applications arise from biomedical spectroscopy in the areas of tissue analysis and medical imaging.

The problem of finding individual line parameters from experimental absorption spectra is reduced to the minimization of a function of N variables. The spectra may consist of overlapping, closely spaced, and broadened lines, and need not be of high resolution. It is assumed, however, that the general response function of the instrument is given and that the line shapes are known functions of wave number and of the parameter in question for each of the N lines involved. An example of the use of the method is given by outlining a successful computer program for determining half-widths in infrared spectra, and showing results of numerical tests.