AST102-176 Astronomy II
Activity 1
Activity Completed: 2/4/11
Submitted: 2/4/11

For this activity I will be studying the color spectrum. I hope to gain a better understanding of light and what the different colors of the spectrum mean. Being able to understand the colors from a light source will give me a better understanding of the types of elements and temperatures that make up that source.

To be able to study the color spectrum I need to build a device called a spectroscope. A spectroscope spreads out light allowing you to see the different wavelengths or colors of light. The specific type of spectroscope that I will be building uses diffraction gating. Diffraction grating splits and diffracts light into several different beams of color. Diffraction gating is usually a thin piece of glass which contains thousands of tiny parallel lines. In the case of this experiment I will be using a CD, which has just that. To be able to single out a specific light source the CD must be enclosed in a small box. This box will contain a portion of a CD to reflect the diffraction gating, a small slit to allow the light source to enter the box and a viewing hole to observe the different wavelengths.

For my spectroscope, I will be using a template from the University of Wisconsin. A copy of the template can be found at: http://www.uwm.edu/~awschwab/specweb_files/3ScopesUWMChem3.PDF. When constructing the spectroscope its best to use dark paper; so no external light can diffract off the CD. For my spectroscope I used black poster to which I glued the template on. After the template on poster is cut out a portion of a CD is needed. The CD is to be glued on the side the does not contain the template, shiny side up. The spectroscope assembled will look something like the following:

Using the spectroscope I will be examining six different light sources. The light sources