Experimental Verification of the Wavelength of Light for Particular Colors Using Student Spectrometer

Cruz, A.E., Driza, J., and Seroje, K.K.* National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101 *kingkarlseroje@gmail.com

Abstract
This paper aims to verify experimentally the accepted value of wavelength for a particular color of light using a student spectrometer. The experiment comprises of three set-ups using three kinds of lamps (hydrogen, helium, and mercury) as a light source for each individual set-up. Based from the error percentage obtained from the experiment, the data leads to different conclusions for each set-up depending on light source used. For the helium lamp, the accepted value for wavelength was found to be consistent with the experiment. However, for the hydrogen and mercury lamp, the experiment shows results with varying degrees of success.

1. Introduction
The spectrometer is a device used for observing and quantifying spectra. It has three main parts namely collimator, light dispersing element, and a telescope. The collimator is a tube with adjustable slit that produces a narrow beam of light, and lens that are used to shape the beam such that it will emerge as parallel rays at the exit end of the collimator tube. The dispersing element is used to diffract light into its constituent colors. Lastly, the telescope that is attached to the main scale scans the light that is being dispersed by the grating. Diffraction gratings, on the other hand, are transmitting or reflecting element with a large number of equallyspaced lines or slits on a material.

Fig. 1: The spectrometer with its corresponding parts.

1.2 Principles for Calculating the Wavelength The wavelength of each color of light can be determined using the following equation,

m= d sin
where d is the distance between the rulings of the grating, m is the order of the principal maximum, is the angle of the diffracted light and is the wavelength.

2. Setting-Up of the Spectrometer

In order to get accurate measurements, alignment of the student spectrometer is necessary prior to the actual experiment. First, the diffracting element must be properly aligned to the optical axes of the telescope and the collimator. This was done by adjusting the thumbscrews on the underside of the spectrometers table.

Both the telescope and the collimator need to be focused in order to have a clear view of the spectra. For the telescope, this was done by focusing the telescope at far objects such that it is focused at approximately infinity. The indication that it is focused is when the image is clearly seen upon peering on the telescope. After focusing the telescope, the telescope and collimator were aligned directly opposite to each other so that rays reaching the telescope from the collimator are parallel. In order to focus the collimator, the collimator slit was opened to a small width as possible. Smaller width of the collimator slit gives more clear observation. With the collimator slit partially opened, the collimator focusing knob is being adjusted until the slit image appears sharp. Focusing the slit image using the collimator focusing knob ensures that rays reaching the telescope are nearly parallel. To ensure that the alignment would not be displaced, the rotation lock screw of the telescope was tightened. The fine-adjust knob was also used in order to align the crosshair to one of the edges of the slit image. After all the alignments, a diffraction grating was placed on the central platform with its ruled lines vertical and its face perpendicular to the beam of light from the collimator. Three different vapor lamps were used in this experiment; mercury, hydrogen and helium. Each vapor lamp was carefully placed as light source. The light source is positioned about one centimeter from the slit of the collimator. Upon peering on the telescope and sweeping it clockwise and counterclockwise, different color spectra were observed for each vapor lamp. Angular displacements were tabulated for each color spectra using the circular main scale of the spectrometer that is graduated 0 to 360 in steps of degree and a fixed Vernier scale with 30 divisions.

3. Results and Discussions

The experimental measure of the wavelength of each light is then calculated using the following equation , ( ) (2)

where = 1 2, the angular difference in which the light of the same color is seen. The first order of principal maximum is the basis of the calculation. The following tables show the data gathered during the experiment, showing the comparison between the accepted and experimental value of wavelength. 1() 335.5 338.5 341.5 340.5 345 343.5 2() 23.5 20 17.5 16 16.5 14.5 312 318.5 324 324.5 328.5 329 /2 156 159.25 162 162.25 164.25 164.5 =dsin(/2) (nm) 677.8979067 590.4887223 515.0321095 508.1109618 452.4046339 445.4011883 accepted (nm) 667.8 587.6 501.6 492.2 471.3 447.1

Color Red Yellow Green Greenish Blue Bluish Green Blue

% error 1.51211541 0.491613741 2.677852777 3.232621251 4.009201374 0.379962363

Table 1: Data gathered using the Helium lamp as the light source with corresponding value of wavelength ( ) for each color seen. The diffraction grating used has 600 lines/mm.

The result shows that the error percentage of the experiment was minimal, at most 4% with respect to the accepted value. Another data was gathered using the hydrogen lamp.
1() 335.5 31.5 351 342 2() 23.5 9.5 16.5 8 312 22 334.5 334 /2 156 11 167.25 167 =dsin(/2) (nm) 677.8979067 318.014727 367.8330664 374.922422 accepted (nm) 656.28 486.13 434.05 410.17

Color Red Yellow Green Blue

% error 3.29400663 34.58236953 15.25560041 8.59340713

Table 2: Data gathered using the Hydrogen lamp as the light source with corresponding value of wavelength ( ) for each color seen. The diffraction grating used has 600 lines/mm.

The result shows a wide range of error, expanding from 3.29% to 34.58%. Red and Blue appears to be consistent with the accepted value of their corresponding wavelength, however, the rest of the color in the spectrum deviate significantly from the accepted value. This may be due to technical error while doing the experiment, especially during the reading process of each angle. Another data is gathered using the mercury lamp as the light source.

Color Red Yellow Green Blue Violet

1() 349.5 350 18.5 351.5 14.5

2() 8.5 9.5 8.5 336 7

341 340.5 10 15.5 7.5

/2 170.5 170.25 5 7.75 3.75

=dsin(/2) (nm) 550.1669498 564.5065915 290.5188977 449.5027236 218.0102469

accepted (nm) 627.3 579.8 547.7 438.5 405.1

% error 12.29603862 2.637704122 46.95656423 2.509172988 46.18359741

Table 3: Data gathered using the Mercury lamp as the light source with corresponding value of wavelength ( ) for each color seen. The diffraction grating used has 300 lines/mm.

The result also shows a wide range of error percentage, ranging from 2.64% to 46.96%. Blue and Yellow light appears to be consistent with the accepted value, however, the rest of the color of the spectrum seems to have a significant deviation. This may be due to the same technical error as stated above. Another possible source of error is the placement of the diffraction grating. So as to human limitations, the diffraction grating might not be perfectly perpendicular with respect to the beam of light.

4. Conclusion
The main goal of the experiment is to verify experimentally the accepted value of wavelength for each particular color of light. Based from the error percentage for each set-up, the data leads to different conclusions for each light source used. As for the helium lamp, the accepted value for wavelength was found to be consistent with the experiment, as the error percentage is minimal. As for the hydrogen and mercury lamp, the experiment shows results with varying degrees of success. As shown by the table above, the error percentage varies with a great difference. This might be due to the subjectivity of colour identification. For a more accurate experiment, it is recommended that researchers need not be pressured with time as this might bring a higher probability of technical error. Identification of color is also subjective and results may vary depending on the observer. Most males also have tendencies to be colorblind and thus may have detrimental effects on experiments such as these. It may be easier if a machine detects the colour of the light instead of human eyes.

Acknowledgements
The experimenters would like to thank Ms . Aleena Laganapan for teaching us how to use the spectrometer.

References
[1] Spectrometer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved June 25, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrometer