Lab 14: Color and Spectra

Lab Purpose:
     Examine the Spectrum of white light. More importantly compare between white light and the
     spectrum of single elements and explain why they are so radically different.

Part 1: White Light

     As can be seen in the picture, white light produces the full spectrum as a single line with multiple
     transitions.

     In our calculations, we obtained a range of 390 to 743 nanometers of wavelength which is very
     close to the 390 to 750 nanometer expected from white light.

Part 2: Mystery Element X

     This picture should strike people as odd, because the light given off by the mystery element
     does not produce a single line, but many distinctly colored "clones" of itself. However, being
     a student of physics, I have already learned that this is due to photon emission from elements
     being quantized, meaning only certain colors can be shown. Hooray education.

     In the picture above, the upright calculations show the different wavelengths that we have found
     compared to the expected wavelengths of Helium. There is a deviation of 18.2 nanometers.

Part 3: Hydrogen
     Sadly, a picture for the hydrogen spectrum could not be obtained, as the spectra was too dim to be
     seen. However, data was collected on 3 of the spectra lines that could be seen out of the 4 we
     expected.

     Correcting for error we get the equation lambda = 1.07 lambda_o - 8
     This error is quite large with a slope increase of 7%, however is could easily be attributed to
     the hydrogen tube being contaminated by other particles.