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The Spectra of Helium and Hydrogen

Abstract

IT has become a general supposition that the validity of Bohr's theory of the spectra of hydrogen and helium would be definitely proved if certain faint components very close to the hydrogen lines given by Balmer's formula could be found experimentally. On the other hand, if the components were not found after exhaustive search, the theory would be disproved. This supposition is quite incorrect, and in view of the remarkable paper by Mr. E. J. Evans in the current number of the Philosophical Magazine, which describes the successful discovery and measurement of these components, it becomes a matter of urgency to indicate at once why such components can give no test of any theory of spectral production.

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NICHOLSON, J. The Spectra of Helium and Hydrogen. Nature 94, 642 (1915). https://doi.org/10.1038/094642b0

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