A continuous spectrum is the full rainbow of colours with no dark lines or bands to interrupt the flow from one colour to the next. The word continuous refers to the fact that one colour continues into the next colour, forming an unbroken band of wavelengths. When observed through a spectroscope, an emission spectrum consists of a series of individual bright lines. Each discrete line corresponds to a particular wavelength of emitted light. Emission spectra are produced when gases under low pressure are energized by an external source, such as the electric current supplied to a gas-discharge tube. When observed through a spectroscope, an absorption spectrum consists of a pattern of dark lines superimposed on a continuous spectrum. Each dark line corresponds to a wavelength of light that is absorbed. Absorption spectra are produced when light passes through a gas at low pressure. The lines that a particular gas will absorb in its absorption spectrum correspond to the same lines that the gas emits in its emission spectrum. simplify to a sentence