Experiment 5

The Grating Spectrometer

Preparation
Prepare for this experiment by reading about diffraction gratings and discrete spectra.

Principles
In the last experiment you saw what happens when monochromatic light is passed through single
and double slits. This week you will see what happens when light with more than one
wavelength passes through a diffraction grating.

The diffraction grating is an extension of the double slit. In this experiment you will use plastic
replica gratings. Many extremely fine parallel slits are ruled onto a master grating. Molten
plastic is then poured onto the master and allowed to solidify. The replica grating will then have
many clear slits which transmit light. Because the slits are so close together the diffraction
pattern will be more spread out. In other words, the grating has higher resolution.

Most light is a mixture of different colors and the maximum for each color occurs at a different
angle because each color has a different wavelength. Each element has a unique line spectrum.
Once you find the wavelengths of several lines you can identify the element. In this experiment
you will look at the first and second orders of the helium spectrum and identify an unknown
element from its spectrum.

The diffraction grating equation is the same as the double slit equation, which is

dsin = m ,

where d is the slit separation, m is the order number where m = 0, 1, 2, ... , and is the angle
at which the spectral line is observed.

1
The inverse of the slit separation, , is called the slit density. It is usually given in lines/unit
d
length. This number is less cumbersome than the slit separation which is a very small number.
In this experiment you will find the slit density of your grating experimentally.
1
If you plot sin as a function of m and m is constant, then the slope will be . If you know m,
d
d and sin you can find for a set of lines and identify the element or compound in question.
You will do both for this week's experiment.
Equipment
spectrometer
light shield
diffraction grating
spectrum tube power supply
lab jack
helium spectrum tube
hydrogen spectrum tube
"unknown" spectrum tube
desk lamp

Procedure
Use SI units for length measurements. This experiment must be performed in a dark room.
Shield your apparatus so that stray light does not enter the grating.

1. Record the slit density of the grating. Focus the spectrometer as you did for the prism
spectrometer experiment. Place the telescope on 0 and adjust the position of the slit, if
necessary, so that the image of the slit appears in the crosshairs. Adjust the slit, the
crosshairs, and the objective of the telescope to get the best focus.

2. Place the helium tube in the power supply. Place the power supply on the lab jack, position
it against the spectrometer slit and turn it on. Put the grating in the holder and mount the
holder on the spectrometer so that the grating is perpendicular to the collimated beam of
light. The hollow side of the grating should face the slit.

3. It is necessary to align the grating so that the spectra will be symmetric about 0. Use the
telescope to find the first order yellow line on the right and left side of 0. Record these
angles and average them. Then set the telescope to this angle and rotate the grating holder
until the yellow line appears in the crosshairs. Repeat this procedure until the angles at
which the yellow lines appear on the right and left sides are within 0.1 of each other. If
you have problems with this, call the lab instructor. Your grating is now aligned. Do not
move it for the rest of the experiment.

4. Pick six spectral lines of helium and record the angles at which they appear in the first and
second orders. Because the grating is aligned you need only take data from one side of the
spectrometer.

5. Turn off the power supply and remove the helium tube. Use a paper towel to handle the
tube because it will be hot.

6. Do not move the grating. Replace the helium tube with the hydrogen tube and record the
angles at which the first and second order lines appear. You should see four lines. Turn
off the power supply and remove the hydrogen tube.

7. Do not move the grating. Place the "unknown" tube in the power supply and turn
everything back on. Record the letter marked on the unknown tube. Pick four or five lines
of the unknown spectrum and record the angles at which they appear in the first order.
8. Turn everything off and disassemble the apparatus.

Data
The data should consist of the slit density, the colors and the angles of the first and second
spectral lines for the hydrogen and helium sources and the angles and first order angles for the
"unknown" element. Record the letter on the "unknown" gas tube.

Analysis

1. Use the chart in at the front of your manual to determine the wavelengths of the helium and
hydrogen spectral lines observed.

2. Find sin for the first and second order lines for helium and hydrogen. Find the slope and
intercept of sin vs. m for the first and second orders. (Note: Use all the first order data
for one slope; use all the second order data for the other.)

3. The slope of each line will be the slit density. Find the percent error for each.

4 Use the grating equation and the nominal slit density to find the wavelengths of the lines of
the unknown source. Compare these to the table. Identify the element.

5. Graph sin vs. m for the first and second orders. Use the slope and intercept to draw the
best fit line for each graph.

Questions
1. A diffraction grating produces several spectra while a prism only produces one. Explain
the difference between the way the two produce spectra.

2. Compare the angular separation between two adjacent lines in the helium spectrum in the
first and second order. Which was greater? Which was brighter, the first or second order
spectrum? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using the first and second order
lines to identify complicated spectra.

3. The excited gases in the tubes you used also produced spectral lines in the ultraviolet and
the infrared. These are not visible to our eyes, but could be view by other means. Where
would these lines appear on the spectrometer relative to the visible lines?

4. The spectrum tubes work by running an electric current through a sealed tube containing
gas. What common use of this method can you think of?

5. The atoms in a regular crystal can act as slits for light of the appropriate wavelength. How
do you think someone could use diffraction to determine the spacing between atoms in a
crystal? What wavelengths do you think would be appropriate?

If it applies to you, write "I have not cheated on this lab report" and sign your name.
Grading

4 pts Data and Analysis.

3 pts Each for questions 1, 2, and 3.

2 pts For question 4.

5 pts For question 5.