OSA E-Day 2008: A Simple Spectroscope

Demonstration of a spectroscope to understand absorption and emission spectra, the Bohr model of the atom, and the discovery of elements. Educators may obtain materials for free from the Stanford Solar Center at solar-center.stanford.edu/teachers/.

Note that some of the colors shown by the spectroscope are altered by the video camera, but the narrator explains what would be seen in an actual demonstration.

Presentation by John Nemechek, Metrology Concepts, www.metrologyconcepts.com. Video courtesy of Optimax Systems, Inc., www.OptimaxSI.com.

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Education

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• optics
• photonics
• physics
• science
• experiment
• light
• lesson
• demo
• demonstration
• teacher
• student
• outreach
• solar
• emission
• absorption
• spectrum
• spectra
• spectroscope
• free

[OSAEDay2008]

It would be difficult. What you really need is a spectrometer, not a spectroscope. You'd have to a lot of work to calibrate the spectroscope, and depending on your gas, it might be difficult to distinguish (or even see) the gas and aluminum absorption/emission lines. If you have the money, an off-the-shelf spectrometer would be much easier to use and more precise, like the Ocean Optics USB2000 or USB4000 series. Good luck!

[SensiBleu]

can this method be used to detect aluminum particles suspended in a gas?

[mephesh]

Well worth watching. Great video.