You are looking at a glowing field of hot lava from a satellite high above Earth's atmosphere. Hot lava emits most of its radiation in the infrared, and Earth's atmosphere is not completely transparent to infrared. What kind of spectrum will you see?
A)a flat spectrum, equally intense at short and long wavelengths
B)an emission spectrum
C)an absorption spectrum
D)no spectrum at any wavelength

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

An absorption spectrum would be observed since Earth's atmosphere is not completely transparent to infrared radiation emitted by the hot lava. This means that certain wavelengths of the infrared radiation would be absorbed by the atmosphere, resulting in dips or gaps in the spectrum.

You Are Looking at a Glowing Field of Hot Lava