Regents Physics Laboratory Cover Sheet LAB # 26 YOUR NAME: DATE: 5/5/00 LAB TITLE: Spectral Analysis GRADE 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 In this lab we determined which gas was inside a spectrum tube. The spectrum of eachelement is specific because each element has certain quantized electron energy levels. Whenhigh energy electrons move through the gas the electrons of the atoms of the gas gain energy,move up an energy level and then quickly drop back down releasing a photo of a certain energyand wavelength. By using the equation l = dx/L and measured values for x and L we determinedthe spacing for our diffraction grating to be 1.60 x 10-6 meters. We set up a high potentialdifference between the ends of the tube and observed the spectrum produced by the tube througha diffraction grating. By measuring the distance between the central maximum and the firstorder image of purple (.163 m), green (.183 m), and red (.259 m) and using the equation l =dx/L we determined the wavelengths of the colors were able to use a spectrum chart to determinethat the element inside the tube was hydrogen....
