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OP03 Written Report

Grating Monochromator by Samuel Gillespie


This experiment aimed to determined the Rydberg's constant experimentally, and found it to have a value of 1.0970 x 107 0.046%. This result is consistent with the theory obtained from the Bohr model. Differentiating between the R (mass of nucleus >> mass of electron) and RH (precise masses used) was unsuccessful, however, as the uncertainty in the obtained result encompassed both values.

1 Introduction
The Bohr model is an early approximation of an atom, and consists of a fixed, positively charged nucleus surrounded by electrons travelling around it in a circular orbit. From this model is it possible to predict the emission spectrum of a hydrogen atom, and it can be shown that the emitted spectral lines depend on the following1:
2 me e 4 1 R = 4 0 4 c 3 Equation 1.1

( )

This first value is called the Rydberg's constant and can be obtained from the Bohr model if the proton is taken to be infinitely larger than the orbiting electron. The second value is the Rydberg's constant for a nucleus of mass M. When then mass of the nucleus is m p (as is such in the case of hydrogen) we are left with this equation:
2 4 m m 1 e x e p 3 4 0 4 c me +m p Equation 1.2

RH=

( )

The aim of this experiment is an attempt to validate this equation and test its accuracy. It is important to test this model, as it can be applied to other aspects of physics to achieve useful results. For example, it is possible to use the emission spectrum of atoms to determine the speed of stars moving through the universe. This is achieved by observing the emission spectrum given out by the moving star, and comparing it with a spectrum of known values. By comparing the known values with the corresponding values found the red-shift can be determined. Using this value an observer can then work out the speed that the body is travelling relative to themselves. As hydrogen is found in abundance in main stage stars, knowing accurate spectra is very useful. From just the hydrogen spectra it is possible to determine the velocity of all main stage stars.
1 Derivation can be found in the OP03 laboratory script

2 Experimental arrangement
To find the wavelengths of light emitted by excited hydrogen it is possible to use a CzernyTurner monochromator. To set up the monochromator the light source must first be focused onto the entrance slit of the system. The light is then internally reflected through the system towards a collimating mirror. This produces collimated light, which is reflected further down the monochromator and towards the reflection grating. This grating causes the light to diffract, with each wavelength of light being diffracted by varying amounts. When focused, this light will create bands of colour (called spectral lines) against a dark background. This focusing is achieved by, once again, reflecting the light on a concave mirror and reflecting the light to the eyepiece. If positioned correctly, the focus of the light will be directly on the eyepiece. This setup can be seen in Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1: Czerny-Turner Monochromator As is seen in the diagram, after hitting the grating the different wavelengths of light will diffract by varying amounts, causing constructive interference at different angles leaving the grating. Thus they will focus at different places at the exit slit and rotating the grating will show different wavelengths of light in the centre. To utilise this equipment the apparatus must be correctly set up. As previously stated, this first requires ensuring that the entrance slit is positioned so that light passing through it will be collimated by the collimating mirror. This is achieved by ensuring that (when the grating is set to reflect the light straight back) the image of the slit and the slit itself creates no parallax. This infers that the image is lying directly on top of the object, and the focal point lines up with the slit.

Figure 2.2: Apparatus arrangement The best image on the cross-wires is achieved when the light from the light source is focused directly on the slit with a magnification of one. To accomplish this, the light source must be positioned a distance two times the focal length away from the lens. The entrance slit must then also lie two focal lengths from the focusing lens (Figure 2.2). This will thus create a total distance of four focal points between the slit and the light source. The exact placement is not necessary though, as it just improves the image quality, helping to get more reliable results. The cross-wires must then also be positioned so that the light leaving the monochromator focuses on them. This will ensure the spectral lines are as thin as possible (sharp image) so that it will be easier to determine when they appear centred on the cross-wires. It also ensure there is no parallax when viewing image which would create a larger random error in the acquired results. After completing these steps, the apparatus is prepared and measurements can now be taken. In this case, an eyepiece is used to magnify the cross-wires and the image of the slit (and thus spectral lines). This enables the spectral lines to be seen against a black background, with the cross-wires also in view. From this point it is easy to modify the rotation of the grating and determine when a particular spectral line lies on the centre of the cross-wires.

3 Measurements
Before the wavelengths of a particular light source can be observed with this apparatus it must first be calibrated. The monochromator only measures the displacement of the grating inside it, and so these values must be converted into a wavelength to acquire the results desired. This can only be done if an equation is known to convert between the two values, and discovering this equation can be done by comparing the displacements found when viewing known wavelengths of a spectrum. A mercury lamp emits a spectrum composing of many spectral lines (Figure 3.1), of which the wavelengths are well defined. By plotting the values shown on the micrometer against the values of these known wavelengths it will be possible to fit the data to a line which can then later be used convert readings off the micrometer to wavelengths.

Figure 3.1: Mercury Spectral Lines (From lab script) To ensure accuracy, and to reduce random errors, measurements for each wavelength were taken four times. Furthermore, when placing the line onto the cross-wires it was important to ensure that the line is always approached from the same side. This is to stop the error that would be caused by the slight backlash in the mechanisms of the micrometer. After completing the calibration measurements (see Appendix A) the mercury light was replaced with a capillary discharge tube that emitted the hydrogen spectrum. The light was positioned so that, when it passed through the lens, it focused onto the slit. The rest of the apparatus (excluding the eyepiece) remained fixed to ensure the calibration stayed valid. Once the light source had been switched, a spectrum of many spectral lines was found. However, only the four Bohr emissions in the visible spectrum were desired (the rest are molecular emission). By using the Bohr model to estimate the location of the line, the estimated reading on the micrometer could be found which would help distinguish between the many lines allowing the correct values to be measured. Once again, each reading was measured four times and the results were recorded in a table (see Appendix B).

4 Analysis and results


After gathering all the measurements needed the calibration results were analysed and a fitting curve was produced. Upon plotting the points it appeared as though a straight line curve would satisfy the ratio between the grating displacement and the wavelength of light focused on the centre of the cross-wires. However, upon inspecting the residuals of this plot there is a noticeable curvature in the fit of the them (Figure 4.1). Due to of this, a linear fit may not be the best options for the values recorded.
Regular Residual of Results z Polynomial Fit Regular Residual of Results z
0.00002 0.00002

Regular Residual of Results z Polynomial Fit Regular Residual of Results z

Regular Residuals of z

0.00001

Regular Residuals of z
400 500 600 700

0.00001

0.00000

0.00000

-0.00001

-0.00001

400

500

600

700

Wavelength (nm)

Wavelength (nm)

Figure 4.1: Residuals of linear fit

Figure 4.2: Residuals of polynomial fit 4

As seen in Figure 4.2, the polynomial fitting of the data produces a more random set of residuals. This indicates that this fit is a better estimate of the data found compared to the linear fit. Therefore, it is the polynomial fit, rather than the linear, that should be used to convert the values of the grating displacement into values for the wavelength. Finding the standard deviation for both of these graphs can also confirm that a polynomial fit is more suitable for the data. The standard deviation in both cases is found using Equation 4.1.

n1 Equation 4.1

res=

(residials 2 )

For the linear fit this provides a value of: 7.32004 x 10-6 m For the polynomial fit this provides a value of: 7.12348 x 10-6m This re-enforces the belief that a polynomial fit better defines the conversion method to obtain wavelengths from any particular reading on the micrometer. After the conclusion that the polynomial fit would be utilised, the equation of the line needed to be found. With this equation, values on the micrometer could be converted into wavelengths. From the fit, it was possible to extract the coefficients for the variables in the polynomial fit that makes up the line of best fit. As seen in Figure 4.3, the linear fit and polynomial fit are almost identical lines. However, as a polynomial fit is being used, the equation defining the line can be extracted from the tables shown in the graph2.

Grating Displacement (z) vs Wavelength Seen


36 34
Equation Weight Residual Sum of Squares y = a + b*x Instrumental 7.16846 1 1 Value z Intercept Slope -8.48953E-5 50159.39129 Standard Error 1.12801E-5 20.41235

Grating Displacement (mm)

32 30 28 26 24 22 20

Pearson's r Adj. R-Square

Equation Weight Residual Sum of Squares Adj. R-Square z z z

y = Intercept + B 1*x^1 + B2*x^2 Instrumental 6.29872 1 Intercept B1 B2 Value Standard Error -1.96668E-4 7.17246E-5 50579.85521 -3.86819E8 267.42313 2.45359E8

z Linear Fit of Results z Polynomial Fit of Results z


400 450 500 550 600 650 700

Wavelength (nm)

Figure 4.3: Calibration plot with a linear and polynomial fit


2 Measurements in the table are in the unit meters to ensure no confusion in converting units

Due to the polynomial fit, it can be assumed that the equation of the line of best fit is in the the form of Equation 4.2. By extracting the value required a useful equation can be constructed as shown in Equation 4.3. z=a 2 +b +c res Equation 4.2

z=(3.8681910 ) +(50579.85521)1.9666810 7.1234810 Equation 4.3

Fortunately it is easily possible to re-arrange the equation to obtain an equation for in terms of z (Equation 4.4). 50579.85521 (50579.85521)24(3.86819108 )(1.96668104 z ) = 2(3.86819108) Equation 4.4 However this would return two results for each value of z. By inspecting the graph it is possible to determine that, out of the two values, we would want to use the value that is closer to 0. This is because the second value would occur after the polynomial starts to descends back towards the axis, and occurs much further away from the desired wavelength. This smaller value is found when a positive value for the square root is used rather than a negative value. Differentiating Equation 4.2 allows uncertainty to be converted from errors in z into errors in . By simply re-arranging the differentiate we are left with the equation: dz dz = 2a +b 2(3.8681910 8) +50579.85521 Equation 4.5 d = From this, the values of the wavelengths can now be deduced (with error) when determining the values of the hydrogen spectral lines. By combining the uncertainty in the readings from the micrometer and combining them with the standard deviation of the residuals in quadrature, we can then determine the error in the wavelength. The wavelengths of the Balmer lines are found to satisfy the equation: 1 1 1 = RH ( 2 2 ) n 2 n Equation 4.6 where n = 3,4,5 & 6 for the wavelengths , , , respectively. By re-arranging this equation and substituting in the wavelength values found experimentally a multiple values for RH can be found (see Appendix C). From these values, a weighted mean of RH can be deduced along with the standard error of the mean.

The weighted mean of RH is found by:


Hn R

1 R Hn Equation 4.7

RH=

Hn

=1.09701107

and the standard error of the mean is found by:

RH=

Equation 4.8 Therefore, the value of RH found experimentally is equal to:

1
n 1

1
Hn

=5.27103

R H = 1.0970107 0.0005107 m 1 = 1.09701070.046 %


Equation 4.9: Experimental value of RH

5 Conclusion
According to the Bohr model, the theoretical value of R H is: 1.0968 x 107 m (see Equation 1.2) However, different isotopes of hydrogen contain different nuclear masses, and thus the theoretical value for these isotopes would be different. One extreme is the value calculated above, in which the nucleus only contains one proton. The other can be found when the nucleus is taken as being infinitely larger than the orbiting electron. This value, R , is found to have a value of 1.0973 x 107 m. Both of these results lie within the experimental uncertainty range of the experimentally calculated value, making it impossible to differentiate between the two. Therefore this experiment, while confirming that the Bohr model seems like a suitable estimate for the emissions of hydrogen spectrum, does not give clear evidence that the Rydberg's constant for hydrogen is RH rather than R.

6 Bibliography
OP03 laboratory script

7 Appendices
Appendix A
Z1 / mm 0.01 20.22 20.37 20.56 21.69 21.73 21.79 24.57 24.80 25.15 25.25 27.32 28.41 28.86 28.95 29.34 29.47 30.39 30.64 31.20 33.63 34.58 Z2/ mm 0.01 20.19 20.35 20.51 21.68 21.72 21.77 24.57 24.81 25.15 25.24 27.33 28.38 28.86 28.96 29.33 29.48 30.38 30.64 31.19 33.61 34.56 Z3 / mm 0.01 20.20 20.37 20.54 21.66 21.72 21.78 24.59 24.82 25.14 25.23 27.29 28.39 28.86 28.97 29.33 29.46 30.39 30.64 31.19 33.61 34.58 Z4/ mm 0.01 20.22 20.39 20.54 21.68 21.72 21.78 24.59 24.80 25.13 25.22 27.31 28.38 28.86 28.97 29.32 29.45 30.37 30.64 31.19 33.60 34.56 Average z / mm 0.01 20.21 20.37 20.54 21.68 21.72 21.78 24.58 24.81 25.14 25.24 27.31 28.39 28.86 28.96 29.33 29.47 30.38 30.64 31.19 33.61 34.57

Table 1: Calibration results Appendix B


Name Z1 / mm 0.01 20.37 21.71 24.33 32.81 Z2/ mm 0.01 20.44 21.67 24.29 32.81 Z3 / mm 0.01 20.43 21.72 24.31 32.83 Z4/ mm 0.01 20.43 21.73 24.32 32.85 Z5/ mm 0.01 20.49 21.72 24.29 32.83 Average z / mm 0.01 20.43 21.71 24.31 32.83 Error in z / mm 0.06 0.03 0.02 0.02

Table 2: Recorded Balmer line values Appendix C


n 6 5 4 3 z / mm 20.43 21.71 24.31 32.83 Error in z / mm 0.060 0.031 0.021 0.021 / nm 409.1 434.6 486.3 656.2 Error in / nm 1.20 0.61 0.42 0.42 RH 10999120 10958125 10967543 10972688 Error in RH 32318 15475 9538 7090

Table 3: Experimental values of RH

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