fine structure

1. 1.

   the presence of groups of closely spaced spectrum lines observed in the atomic spectrum of certain elements

   “the fine structure results from slightly different energy levels”

   Broaderspectrum line

   Part ofatomic spectrum

Questions about fine structure

What does fine structure mean?

fine structure means "the presence of groups of closely spaced spectrum lines observed in the atomic spectrum of certain elements".

Is fine structure a common word?

fine structure is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.