User:Chad A McCoy/Notebook/Jr. Lab/2008/10/13

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Balmer Series Lab: 10/13/2008

 * For the Lab covering the weeks of 10/13/2008 and 10/20/2008, I have chosen to do the Balmer series, where after calibration of an optical spectrometer, I will measure the spectral lines of hydrogen and deuterium.
 * For the Lab, I am using a model SP200 5000 Volt, 10mA Spectrum Tube Power Supply, produced by Electro-Technic Products, using spectral tubes of mercury, hydrogen, and deuterium.
 * For measuring the data I am using a "constant-deviation" spectrometer, with a Pellin-Broca constant-deviation prism acting to determine the different wavelengths.
 * The full procedure can be accessed in Professor Gold's Lab manual here
 * When calibrating the spectrometer, I had a wide variance in measurements, and had extreme differences in measurements depending on the wavelength. I settled on zeroing the spectrometer such that it had the closest values for the 546.1 and 577 nanometer readings and ignore that the red line had a significantly higher reading than what would be expected.


 * My method of measurements was to start at the highest wavelength possible and work my way down the spectrum, taking measurements as I go. After finishing a set of measurements for Hydrogen, I switched to the deuterium and took my measurements.  I repeated the set 3 times, without touching the crystal and possibly changing the calibration in between sets.


 * After completing these measurements, I decided to take another set of data with a different calibration so that I would have another calibration slope, hopefully giving more accurate results.
 * For these data sets I am measuring from the lowest possible wavelength on the spectrometer up, with the calibration done first then hydrogen then deuterium.


 * The last portion of the lab asks for us to measure the resolving power of the spectrometer using Sodium and the double yellow spectral lines at 589.0 and 589.6 nanometers. Unfortunately, we do not have a spectral tube containing sodium vapor, so I was unable to see if it was possible to measure the difference between the two lines.


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