Broadening of Lines from Ionized Nitrogen, Carbon and Oxygen

The susceptibility of lines from ionized nitrogen, carbon and oxygen, to broadening, when the respective gases in capillary discharge tubes were subjected to high voltage condensed discharges has been investigated. An attempt has been made to correlate the selective broadening of lines from the ionized atoms so obtained in the present investigation with the behaviour of spectral lines in Wolf-Rayet stars, A good correspondence between the two was obtained which suggests Stark effect to be an important cause in broadening the lines from ionized atoms of other elements in stars besides hydrogen and helium.