Using spectrascopes, we looked at different light filters and what lights they emit. When we looked through these special devices through the right angle, we could see the different colors in the visible light spectrum emitted by different properties.
This artist's representation of what was viewed through the spectrascope show what colors are given off. The first of this set was a normal, white light which showed each of the 7 colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet). But, as the lights change, different colors are emitted. When a red fluid is placed in front of the light bulb and viewed through the spectrascope, the red part of the spectrum is larger. When a light blue fluid is put in front of the light instead, there is no orange light reflected. When gasses and other materials were put into a bulb and shown, we examined each of them with the spectrascopes. When examining a bulb with hydrogen in it, the only colors that were shown were red, blue and violet. When we used a mercury bulb, only orange, green and violet were visible. When argon was used, red and orange were very faint when viewed through the spectrascope. However, green and violet (the only other 2 colors present) were clearly seen. When a neon bulb was observed, there was a black line in between orang and green, replacing yellow. There was also little to no indigo or violet light seen. When a nitrogen bulb was observed, the full spectrum of colors was visible. The only odd thing was the two black lines in the green area of the spectrum. When observing iodine, all colors were very faint and there were black lines on both sides of the blue area. Helium reflected all of the colors except for violet and had black lines before and after the orange area.
This experiment shows that different gasses and elements reflect and absorb different parts of the visible light spectrum. It gives us better understanding of the energies emitted by what colors are absorbed or reflected.
