Science 9 Name:

Unit 5: Space

Spectral Lines

Topic 3 - The Spectroscope: New Meanings In Light

Isaac Newton passed a beam of light through a prism to produce a spectrum of colors. If you pass the light through a narrow slit before sending it through a prism (a spectroscope is a device that does this) the spectrum will be in more detail. Joseph von Fraunhofer used a spectroscope to observe the spectrum produced by the Sun. He noticed dark lines, called spectral lines, but didnt know what they meant. He found these spectral lines throughout the solar system.

Spectroscopy: The Science of Colour

The significance of the spectral lines was discovered about 50 years later when Kirschoff and Bunsen, two chemists used a spectroscope to observe various chemicals when they were heated. They found some of the lines missing in some of the chemicals. Each particular element had its own unique spectral lines. This led to the science of spectroscopy the study of spectra, as a part of chemistry. They found that there were three types of spectra. Spectroscopy for Astronomers Astronomers refract the light from distant stars to determine what the star is made of. Stars have dark bands in distinct sequences and thicknesses on their spectra. Each element that is present in the star creates its own black-line fingerprint. The spectra of the star are then compared to known spectra of elements to determine the stars composition. This is called spectral analysis. A spectrometer is used to do this. By attaching spectroscopes to their telescopes, astronomers are able to observe a stars spectra, but because the distant stars are much dimmer than our Sun, only some of the elements in the spectra can be identified. Those that cannot be identified remain as inferences, based on what astronomers know about certain types of stars.

The Doppler Effect

A change in the pitch (frequency) of sound waves because they are stretched or squeezed is known as the Doppler effect. Changes in the sound waves can be measured to determine how fast and in what direction a light-emitting object is moving. The position of the dark bands is what shifts in the light waves of a moving star. The spectrum of an approaching star shows the dark bands shifting to the blue end of the spectrum, whereas, the shift is to the red part of the spectrum if a star is moving away from the Earth. Remember: Blue moving towards (cold you can touch) Red moving away (HOT stay away) The amount of shift indicates the speed at which the star is approaching or moving away. There are also practical applications that use the Doppler effect. Law enforcement officers detect the speed of an approaching vehicle by using a radar gun, which sends out a radio signal and receives one back from the vehicle. To determine the speed of the vehicle, the hand-held device records the difference in the outgoing wavelength and incoming wavelength.

An Amazing Tool
The spectroscope is an amazing tool. Its application to astronomy has helped astronomers determine the composition of distant stars

Topic 3 Assignment Vocabulary:

Spectrum: a continuous distribution of colored light produced when a beam of white light is dispersed into its components Spectral Lines: dark lines or bright lines observed in the spectra of stars Spectroscopy: the study of spectra spectrum produced when a beam of light is passed through a prism Diffraction Grating: a device made of thousands of closely spaced slits through which light is passed in order to create a spectrum Spectral Analysis: the study of spectra Doppler Effect: the phenomenon that the observed frequency of a wave changes if the source of the waves and the observer are moving toward or away from one another Red Shifted: when spectral lines more toward the longer-wavelength part (red end) of the spectrum (receding object) Blue Shifted: when spectral lines more toward the shorter-wavelength part (blue end) of the spectrum (approaching object)

1. Describe how a spectroscope works. When light passes through very small openings that are close together, a spectrum is produced. This occurs because waves bend around corners and then pass through each other causing interference. Diffraction grating has thousands of closely spaced small slits, causing this effect. 2. If you heat a piece of wire until it glows, what type of spectrum should it produce? Continuous. 3. What instrument would you use to find out what elements are in the Suns atmosphere. How is this done? I would use spectral analysis. Each type of gas emits a certain type of spectrum, and by looking at the Suns spectrum, I could match the lines on its absorption spectrum with lines on the spectra of different gases. 4. If a stars light is red shifted what can astronomers conclude about the movement of that star? Scientists can conclude that the star is receding. 5. What is the Doppler effect? Give an example of it being used. The Doppler effect is the phenomenon that the observed frequency of a wave changes if the source of the waves and the observer are moving toward or away from one another. i.e. if scientists are looking at stars in the universe and a few appear tinted blue, then they can conclude that the star is approaching. 6. Answer questions # 6 and 7 in the Topic 3 Review questions page 384. Use the space below The first diagram represents red light. The second diagram represents blue light. For the spectra: ????????

Analyzing Spectral Patterns

What to Do
Analyze the spectra below in order to answer the following questions.

Questions
Use the space below, or a separate page, to write answers to the questions. 1. List the chemical elements in: (a) Mystery Star 1 Helium and Hydrogen (b) Mystery Star 2 Helium, Sodium, and Hydrogen (c) Mystery Star 3 Calcium and Hydrogen 2.

3.

(a) There is something strange about Mystery Star 4s spectrum. What chemical is in Mystery Star 4? Hydrogen (b) What is odd about the spectrum? Its shifted a little to the right, which is a red shift, meaning that the star is receding.