Shoebox Spectroscopy

The use of complex instruments for chemical analysis is becoming increasingly important. Unfortunately, because of school budgetary constraints, many students are not exposed to these methods until they reach the college level. When students do have access to sophisticated instruments, they often vi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science teacher (National Science Teachers Association) 2004-09, Vol.71 (7), p.44
Main Author: Clarke, David W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemistry
Educational Technology
Experiments
High School Students
Laboratory Equipment
Laboratory Experiments
Measurement Techniques
Science education
Science Experiments
Science Instruction
Secondary School Science
Spectroscopy
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Summary:The use of complex instruments for chemical analysis is becoming increasingly important. Unfortunately, because of school budgetary constraints, many students are not exposed to these methods until they reach the college level. When students do have access to sophisticated instruments, they often view them as black boxes, with little or no understanding of the internal workings. This article describes an experiment which addresses both financial and technical concerns by introducing students to one example of this technology and teaching them how it works. Students are asked to construct a visible-light spectrometer using commonly available and relatively inexpensive equipment. In doing so, they are introduced to the important field of spectroscopy in an authentic fashion and, as a result, often gain a clear understanding of basic spectroscopic principles and the operation of a spectrometer. (Contains 4 figures.)
ISSN:0036-8555
1943-4871