Amanda Marlow

11.17.14
Light Spectra Lab- Write Up
Abstract: To study the spectra of light from various substances.
Electromagnetic waves are omitted at various frequency and
wavelengths through the experiment we identified the energy
differences involved.
Introduction: Light is formed by energy that we call Electromagnetic
radiation. This is a kind of radiation including visible light, radio waves,
gamma rays, and X-rays, in which electric and magnetic fields vary at
the same time. Visible light has wavelengths in a range from 400nm to
700nm. Frequency is the part of light that tells us how many waves pass
by a point in a second. The energy of the electromagnetic radiation
varies directly with the frequency with the wavelength. In lab we
looked at different light spectra. There are continuous spectrum which
shows no lines but a rainbow looking effect of colors. We also looked at
ones with certain lines of color, which after further research I found
was emission spectrum.
Equations we used:

Experimental Set- Up: For this lab we turned off the lights and began
looking at different types of light wavelengths through the diffraction
grating to see the emission lines on each of the Fluorescent, Hydrogen,
and Neon light.

List of materials: spectrum tubes ( helium, hydrogen, neon, mercury)

spectrum tube power supply, diffraction grating, incandescent light
source.
Data: See attached worksheet
Discussion: In our data we only wrote own the colors that we saw. It
was difficult at first to find the angle on the tool to get the lights to be
shown, this was very frustrating. After that we saw the incandescent
bulb and the results of the weakest and strongest color. We found that
on the fluorescent the colors we saw were red, orange, yellow, green,
and violet. The Hydrogen had yellow, red, and violet. And the Neon had
green, yellow, orange, red. When we put the incandescent bulb machine
on the lowest current for part 2 of the lab we saw the strongest color
being red and the weakest being blue with an overall color of rainbow.
On the high current we found the strongest color was green, the
weakest was violet, and the overall color was green. We must have
made a bad calculation because of the violet being the weakest on high
current. Physics should tell us that violet has the most energy and so
when high current was used violet shouldve been the strongest.
Conclusion: What I learned in this experiment that the visible light the
color depends on the frequency. Also we are seeing colors wavelength
when it is being reflected off objects. Also I learned that we measure the
units of cycles of waves per second is called hertz. What corresponds
with those measurements is that high frequency light has high energy
and low frequency light has low energy. Of visible light violet has the
most energy and red has the least that is why will the low current we
could see the red being the strongest color of the bulb.