Spectra Lab

Problem: The purpose of this lab was to use spectrometers to look at various heated elements as well as the sun and fluorescent lights and observe the emission, absorption and continuous spectrum of the elements.

Hypothesis: I expected that none of the elements would give off a continuous spectrum though I thought the sun would and I did not know what to expect of the fluorescent lights though I figured it would be similar to that of the elements.

Procedure: We used spectrometers to look at the elements, the sun and the fluorescent lights and recorded the lines that were given off or absorbed by each element.

Data: See the hardcopy of the lab that will be turned in on the day of the test.

Calculations: See the hardcopy of the lab that will be turned in on the day of the test.

Conclusion: I learned that all the heated elements we observed gave off emission lines, the sun gives off a continuous spectrum and fluorescent lights give off an absorption spectrum. I thought it was really interesting to actually see the colors that the different elements give off and it really gave me a feel for how simple it is to use spectrums to identify elements.