Simultaneous Display of Spectral Images and Graphs Using a Web Camera and Fiber-Optic Spectrophotometer

摘要

In a recent comment in this Journal,Zare points out that visualization is important to understanding chemistry(1).In a general chemistry course,it is common to display atomic line spectra as a visual tool to help students understand the development of atomic models.This demonstration can be an engaging introduction to the quantization of energy levels.However,scientists typically use spectral data in graphical form rather than as the images we present to the students.In fact,we refer to both rainbows and graphs of light intensity or absorbance versus wavelength as"spectra",but the connection between the image and the graph may not be as clear to a novice as it is to us(2).In the following demonstration,both forms of a spectrum are displayed simultaneously to help students make this connection between the spectrum they can see and the abstract graphical representation that they are more likely to use in the future.