Experiment 6: Atomic Fingerprints
Procedure A: Continuous Spectrum: White Light
1. The hand spectroscope has an end that you look into, with your eye…
…and an end that points toward a light source.
Eye looks
in here
Light
Source
enters here.
You can see the scale, here.
The light sources available for continuous spectrum, white light, are:
Sunlight
Incandescent
Light Bulb
Overhead
Projector
Procedure B-C: Line Spectrum – Hydrogen, Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Mercury
do not touch!
Spectral Tube Slips into here
The Gas Discharge Tube is shown along with a set of Gas Spectral Tubes.
On/Off
Switch
Ar, He, H2 , Kr, Hg, Ne, O2 , Xe
Gas Spectral Tubes
H2
He
Ne
Ar
Kr
Hg
Procedure D: Identifying Unknown Elements in a Fluorescent Light
You’ll use the Fluorescent Lights right above your head… or, the instructor may
set up a specific lamp to observe.
For coloring spectral lines that you see when looking into the spectroscopes, you
may use a set of colored pencils, or markers like these: