How might a very fast meteoroid alter the visibility of distinct spectral colors like purple or green?
Answer
Higher temperatures might overwhelm subtle spectral lines, causing the light to appear whiter.
The speed of entry directly impacts the observed color through temperature effects on atomic emission. When a meteoroid travels extremely fast, it heats up so intensely that the resulting light output can appear generally whiter. This happens because the sheer brightness generated by these higher temperatures potentially overwhelms or washes out the subtle, specific spectral lines associated with individual elements, such as the characteristic purple of calcium or the green of magnesium, thereby masking the finer elemental details.
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