Physics307L:People/Cordova/Matt's Formal Lab Report

= Balmer Series =

Author: Matthew A. Cordova Experimentalists: Matthew A. Cordova & Roberto Sebastian Rosales Junior Lab, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87123 mcordov9@unm.edu 

Abstract
This lab report will investigate the Rydberg constant, a physical constant which relates to the wavelengths of photons emitted from atoms in an excited state. This will be done through spectroscopy. Specifically, we will be measuring the wavelength of photons emitted by Hydrogen and Deuterium gas observed as spectral lines isolated through diffraction. Although this can be seen as a dated method compared to modern science, the results obtained in this lab were quite acceptable. The reduced mass Rydberg constant for Hydrogen and Deuterium were found to be $$1.0977(7)*10^7m^{-1}$$ and $$1.0990(2)*10^7m^{-1}$$, respectively. The accepted values for Hydrogen and Deuterium are $$10967758.3406m^{-1}$$ and $$10970746.1986m^{-1}$$, respectively.