An absorption band is a range of wavelengths (or, equivalently, frequencies) in the electromagnetic spectrum within which electromagnetic energy is absorbed by a substance. See absorption spectrum. The wavelength is the distance between repeating units of a wave pattern. ... Sine waves of various frequencies; the lower waves have higher frequencies than those above. ... The electromagnetic spectrum encompasses all possible wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. ... An absorption spectrum is a diagram depicting the wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation absorbed by a material, usually a gas. ...

When the absorbing substance is a polyatomic gas, an absorption band actually is composed of a group of discrete absorption lines which appear to overlap. Each line is associated with a particular mode of vibration or rotation induced in a gas molecule by the incident radiation.

The absorption bands of oxygen and ozone are often referred to in the literature of atmospheric physics. General Name, Symbol, Number Oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16 (VIA), 2, p Density, Hardness 1. ... Ozone (O3) is an allotrope of oxygen, the molecule consisting of three oxygen atoms instead of the more stable diatomic O2. ...

The important bands for oxygen are:

• the Hopfield bands, very strong, between about 67 and 100 nanometres in the ultraviolet;
• a diffuse system between 101.9 and 130 nanometres;
• the Schumann-Runge continuum, very strong, between 135 and 176 nanometres;
• the Schumann-Runge bands between 176 and 192.6 nanometres;
• the Herzberg bands between 240 and 260 nanometres;
• the atmospheric bands between 538 and 771 nanometres in the visible spectrum; and
• a system in the infrared at about 1000 nanometres.

The important bands for ozone are:

• the Hartley bands between 200 and 300 nanometres in the ultraviolet, with a very intense maximum absorption at 255 nanometres;
• the Huggins bands, weak absorption between 320 and 360 nanometres;
• the Chappius bands, a weak diffuse system between 450 and 650 nanometres in the visible spectrum; and
• the infrared bands centered at 4,700, 9,600 and 14,100 nanometres, the latter being the most intense.