Spectroscopy has played its part in the rediscovery of lost works of art. In 2012, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy was used to analyse a painting called Still Life with Meadow Flowers and Roses tentatively attributed to the world’s most popular artist, Vincent Van Gogh.
X-rays can knock out an electron from a low-energy orbital of an atom. An electron from a higher-energy orbital loses energy to fall into that orbital to replace it. The energy is released from the atom as a photon of light, with a wavelength corresponding to the energy gap between the electrons. This is specific to particular atoms, and so can be used to identify different elements. As X-rays are very penetrating, they can pass straight through a material like a canvas, and identify elements in different layers.
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