Determination of Refractive Index of Prism Using Spectrometer and Various Light Sources
Determination of Refractive Index of
Prism using Spectrometer and Various Light Sources
Dimain, Marion; Gonzales, Jade; Pancho Jr., Ronel; Viloria, Matthew David
College of Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines msdimain@yahoo.com jadegonzales019@yahoo.com ronelpancho@yahoo.com tewhmat.liv@gmail.com
Abstract
The study aims to measure the refractive index of a triangular prism using a spectrometer, utilizing different gas discharge tubes as light source. With the use of the discrete spectrum of mercury vapor, hydrogen gas and neon gas, each of the visible color in their respective spectrum passing through the prism was used as the incident ray. The results determined that the red light of the neon discharge tube brought about a calculated refractive index closest to the theoretical value.
I. Introduction The spectrometer is an instrument for analyzing the spectra of radiations. A prism refracts the light into a single spectrum, whereas the diffraction grating divides the available light into several spectra. Because of this, slit images formed using a prism are generally brighter than those formed using a grating. Spectral lines that are too dim to be seen with a grating can often be seen using a prism. Unfortunately, the increased brightness of the spectral lines is offset by a decreased resolution, since the prism doesn’t separate the different lines as effectively as the grating. However, the brighter lines allow a narrow slit width to be used, which partially compensates for the reduced resolution. Prism refers to any transparent medium having two or more plane surfaces. A familiar example is the triangular prism, usually made of glass, used to split beam of white light into its component colors. When light is refracted through a prism it is dispersed into its constituent colors, and the angle at which the light emerges from the prism depends upon its wavelength. A prism spectrometer can be used to measure the
Prism using Spectrometer and Various Light Sources
Dimain, Marion; Gonzales, Jade; Pancho Jr., Ronel; Viloria, Matthew David
College of Engineering, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines msdimain@yahoo.com jadegonzales019@yahoo.com ronelpancho@yahoo.com tewhmat.liv@gmail.com
Abstract
The study aims to measure the refractive index of a triangular prism using a spectrometer, utilizing different gas discharge tubes as light source. With the use of the discrete spectrum of mercury vapor, hydrogen gas and neon gas, each of the visible color in their respective spectrum passing through the prism was used as the incident ray. The results determined that the red light of the neon discharge tube brought about a calculated refractive index closest to the theoretical value.
I. Introduction The spectrometer is an instrument for analyzing the spectra of radiations. A prism refracts the light into a single spectrum, whereas the diffraction grating divides the available light into several spectra. Because of this, slit images formed using a prism are generally brighter than those formed using a grating. Spectral lines that are too dim to be seen with a grating can often be seen using a prism. Unfortunately, the increased brightness of the spectral lines is offset by a decreased resolution, since the prism doesn’t separate the different lines as effectively as the grating. However, the brighter lines allow a narrow slit width to be used, which partially compensates for the reduced resolution. Prism refers to any transparent medium having two or more plane surfaces. A familiar example is the triangular prism, usually made of glass, used to split beam of white light into its component colors. When light is refracted through a prism it is dispersed into its constituent colors, and the angle at which the light emerges from the prism depends upon its wavelength. A prism spectrometer can be used to measure the
References: 1. Young, H., University Physics, 12th Edition L.P.E., Chapter 38: Photons: Light Waves Behaving As Particles, Photoelectric Effect, Pearson Education South Asia PTE LTD (2009). 2. Go, Mary Ann, et. al. (Laboratory Manual Authors), Physics 73.1, Spectral Fingerprinting, The Spectrometer (2007). 3. http://www.cmi.ac.in/~debangshu/lab1/spectrometer.pdf 4. http://uregina.ca/~szymanss/uglabs/p112/Experiments/112-08Spectr08.pdf 5. https://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ved=0CEUQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fphysics.wustl.edu%2Fclassinfo%2F316%2FTheory%2FRefraction.pdf&ei=0I0xUe_iA6i9iAfiooGoBg&usg=AFQjCNEfjICiK9bxd9xT7AZsYZT-j5ybDw&sig2=s9OmxcBtP3WtmnbVM7nlQQ&bvm=bv.43148975,d.aGc