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Matt Raska

CHM-125-15

Mehmet Tatli

September 28, 2010

Spectroscopy and the Atomic Spectra

When atoms are heated to a high enough temperature, via electronic stimulation or

thermal means (flame test), they will emit colors of light characteristic to their element. (Grossie,

Underwood 249) For example, when magnesium is burned, it burns as a bright, blinding, white

light; whereas, potassium burns a pale purple and sodium burns yellow. However, under the

main color lie a number of smaller wavelengths of light which combine to form the color we see.

To begin our experiment, we obtained a “regular” sized cereal box to make our

spectrometers with. We measured our 8 inch long box and measured along the top edge for 6.3

inches. At the very left, a slit was cut for light to enter, from 3.7 inches to 6.3 inches to the right,

another large hole was cut to set the viewing scale to measure the wavelengths of the split up

light. A piece of “holographic diffraction grating film” was place opposite the grading scale and

at a 30 degree angle to the slit of light.

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The light from the slit bounces off the diffraction film and is split into its component

wavelengths. A cathode tube full of helium was used to zero and calibrate our frosted-flakes

spectrometer. Our measurements for the wavelengths of various cathode tubes filled with

different elements is as follows:

Scale
λ (nm) Reading Color
Helium
667.8 5.1 Red
587.6 2.7 Yellow
501.6 1.3 Green
Blue-
492.2 1.1 Green
471.3 0.8 Blue
447.1 0.4 Violet
Hydrogen
440 0.4 Purple
480 1.3 Turquoise
5.1 5.1 Red
Neon
600 3.4 Green
660 4.6 Orange
655 4 Yellow
670 5.1 Red
Light
650 4.4 Orange
665 4.8 Light Red
705 5.5 Dark Red

The measurements for Helium were used to make a linear-like graph to determine the

wavelengths of other energized elements. We always set the red spectral line at the 5.1 mark as a

reference point. However, there seems to have been an amount of error. For example, the blue-

violet we measured as 450 nm, but the actual, accepted wavelength we calculated was 433.83.

That’s an error of 3.76%. Its even larger if you compare the calibrated value for the color green

(501.6 from Helium) against the 600 nm we measured from Neon, a 19.6% margin of error.
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I am not sure what this margin of error can be attributed to, but it is likely that we made

some mistake in the making of our box.

Sources:

David A. Grossie & Kirby Underwood. Laboratory Guide for Chemistry. Wright State

University. Plymouth, MI: Hayden-McNeil Publishing, 2010.