The Cosmic Game ( PDFDrive.com )

Cosmic Game © Douglass A. White, 2012 v151207 162
Since the sacred fire was kindled in the dark and hidden depths of the temple by the
magical power of the Crystal Water Eye, it might also occur to the priest to repeat the
process on a smaller scale. Once the sunbeam had passed and the fire was lit in the dark
room, he might then place a canopy over the sacred glow of the natron and use the
Crystal Eye to focus the captured light of Amen Ra a second time.
This time he would not get a perfect rainbow. He might notice that within the rainbow
some bars of various colors stood out more brightly, particularly a yellow bar. He would
have discovered in a very limited way what we today call an optical spectrum. Unless he
could view the spectrum of the burning natron in the state of a thin gas, he would not
merely see the spectral lines, but would have a more spread out spectrum. However
there would be a bright yellow bar part way across the spectrum.
The sodium spectrum has bright lines at 589 nm. There are actually two lines, one at
588.995 nm and another at 589.5924 nm. The one closest to 589 nm is much brighter,
and so the secondary line probably would not be noticed by the ancient Egyptians, or they
may have seen them as one thicker line.
Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen identified many elements using optical
spectroscopy aided by a specially designed burner developed by Bunsen.
The Three Laws of Spectroscopy (from Wikipedia, "Kirchhoff" article)
1. A hot solid object produces light with a continuous spectrum.
2. A hot tenuous gas produces light with spectral lines at discrete wavelengths (i.e.
specific colors) which depend on the energy levels of the atoms in the gas.
3. A hot solid object surrounded by a cool tenuous gas (i.e. cooler than the hot
object) produces light with an almost continuous spectrum which has gaps at discrete
wavelengths depending on the energy levels of the atoms in the gas.
Above is a drawing of the Kirchhoff-Bunsen spectroscope. The device does not make
use of anything unknown to the Egyptians. It includes a box with a blackened interior, a
triangular prism, tubes with lenses for directing and observing the light, a flame, and a
material to study -- e.g., natron.