The spectrum of carbon arcs in air at high current densities

Source abstract

Abstract 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.