Experiment 15: Color and Spectra

Introduction: The purpose of this experiment was to measure the wavelength of light given off by a hydrogen gas spectra.

Data:
The experiment began by constructing an apparatus that allowed us to accurately measure the wavelengths of light emitted by our hydrogen gas source. We had to calibrate our apparatus using a white light source.

Setup of apparatus used for this experiment.

Light source used to calibrate our apparatus.

Calculations made for our calibration of the apparatus.

Calculations made for our apparatus.

The equation we found for our calibration of our apparatus was:

y=1.26x-145.56

This will allow us to accurately measure the wavelength of the hydrogen gas spectra.

Apparatus with hydrogen gas source instead of white light source used to calibrate the apparatus.

Apparatus with hydrogen gas source instead of white light source used to calibrate the apparatus.

A view of the spectra of the hydrogen gas.

Calculations made to measure the wavelengths of the hydrogen gas spectra using our equation found using the white light source.

Theoretical values for the wavelength of light emitted from hydrogen gas.

Conclusion:
We found that our apparatus gave us 6.40% error for the red wavelength, a 0.62% error for our blue wavelength, and a 1.71% error for our purple wavelength. This was within the accepted range of error, which means our measurements made were precise.