Contact wear detection by spectral analysis shift

A contact wear detector, comprising:

• an electrical contact having a base layer composed of a first material and a contacting layer composed of a second material, the contacting layer being configured to electrically contact an opposing contact in a switch, the base layer being capable of having portions exposed through worn areas of the contacting layer, the first material of the base layer being configured to form an arc between the portions of the base layer exposed through the worn areas and the opposing contact when the contacts separate, the arc thus formed emitting light having a characteristic optical spectrum of the first material;
• and
• an optical detector proximate to the electrical contact, the optical detector being configured to detect the characteristic optical spectrum of the light emitted by the arc between the portions of the base layer exposed through the worn areas and the opposing contact.