EXPERIMENT 2: PRISM SPECTROMETER

AND DIFFRACTION GRATINGS

AIM:
To observe the features of a prism spectrometer and diffraction grating and determine
minimum deviation angles, wavelengths and why the angular separation between
spectral lines varies between first-order and second order spectra.

INTRODUCTION:

Prism Spectrometer
Spectroscopy is the study of .....In this experiment, the minimum deviation angle of
different spectrums of light will be investigated through a glass prism spectrometer. A
comparison between different light sources will also be explored.

Refraction of light occurs when light is transferred from one medium (with a
refractive index n1) to another medium of either lower or higher refractive index (n2).
This relationship between two mediums is described by Snell’s Law:

sin θ2 n1
=
sin θ1 n2

Where θ1 = angle of incidence and θ2 = angle of refraction.

When a beam of white light is refracted through a glass prism (note: refractive index
is higher than air and therefore, θ2 < θ1 ), the light is dispersed into its component
colours. In general terms, the relationship between refractive index and wavelength
can be expressed as:
λ
n=
λn
Where λn = the wavelength in the medium and λ = the wavelength in a vacuum.

Therefore, by comparing the above equation and Snell’s Law, it can be seen that a
particular ray of light with wavelength λ1 will have a different value of n than a ray

with wavelength λ2 and thus they will have different angles of refraction. As each
spectrum of light has a different wavelength which is a constant value and
independent of the medium, each colour will be refracted at a different angle.
Therefore, light of a higher frequency (eg. blue light) will have a higher angle of
refraction than light of lower frequency (eg. red light) as it passes through a glass
prism. This is why white light will be dispersed into its component colours when
refracted through a particular medium.
 http;//academic.keystone.edu

The angel between the path of an incident ray and the path of the ray as it exits the
prism is called the deviation angle. The result of light being transmitted through a
glass prism is that the component colours of the light source are dispersed at different
deviation angles.

Minimum deviation occurs when a light rays passes through the prism parallel to the
base.

Minimum Deviation Angle, D

θ

Diffraction Gratings
A diffraction grating is a transparent sheet with thousands of tiny parallel lines
(“scratches”) ruled on it. The number of lines on a diffraction grating can summate to
several hundred per millimetre. Each of the intervals between the opaque lines on a
diffraction grating acts as slit for light to pass through and the additive effects of these
slits results in the dispersion of a beam of light into its component colours.
Each of the slits on a diffraction grating are separated by distance d. When a beam of
light with wavelength λ is incident towards an individual slit in the diffraction grating,
each slit will diffract the light in a pattern similar to Figure 1.1. Each of these
propagating waves can be considered to act as a point source (Huygens-Fresnel
Principle).

Fig. 1.1
http://electron9.phys.utk.edu/phys136d/modules/m9/diff.htm

When the cumulative effects of each slit in a diffraction grating are observed, the
various wavefronts will interfere so that when two peaks of a wavefront meet, the
amplitude of the wave is enhanced (increased) and when a peak and a trough meet,
the amplitude of the wave is partially or totally cancelled (decreased) . Essentially, the
wavefronts either interact constructively or destructively.

http://encyclozine.com/science/physics/waves http://www.sciencestudy.org/post/Interference.aspx

The positions of the maxima in an interference pattern produced by a diffraction

grating can be expressed by the function:

d sin θm = mλ

Where d = the distance between the slits, θm = the angular position of a given
maximum with respect o the x-axis, m = the order of the maximum and λ = the
wavelength of the light.

Because d and m are the only constants in the above equation, it can be concluded that
sin θm is dependent of λ . This shows that each wavelength in the light sources
spectrum will be dispersed at a different angle depending on the order and particular
wavelength. Therefore, each colour in the spectrum is dispersed so that they are
differentiable by the human eye and each θm can be measured.
APPARATUS:
 • Sodium lamp
• Prism (spectrophotometer)
• Prism table
• Prism clamp
• Telescope
• Unknown light source
• Transmission diffraction grating
• Diffraction grating clamp

PROCEDURE:

RESULTS:

Prism spectrometer with Sodium light source:

Table 1
Angle (A)
Red Yellow Green Light Blue Green Blue Green
Position A 266.9 263.7 265.5 265.5 262.0
265.1 267.4 267.0 264.7 266.1
Average Value 266.0 265.6 266.25 265.1 264.05
Position B 135.0 133.6 135.7 134.2 136.2
135.5 131.8 135.9 136.3 134.1
Average Value 135.25 132.7 135.8 135.25 135.15
Minimum Deviation (D) 65.4 66.45 65.225 64.9 64.45

Graph 1
Sodium Lamp y = 0.0112x + 59.0452
R2 = 0.5541
Minimum Deviation

67
66.5
66
(D)

65.5
65
64.5
64
400 450 500 550 600 650
Wavelength (nm)