Chem 101 Lab #5 Write Up

Lab write up #5

When looking at both the window and the fluorescent lighting without 3D glasses on, only white light was seen but with the 3D glasses the window appeared white but was surrounded by gradients of rainbow. The fluorescent lights also had similar rainbow gradients surrounding them but the rainbows around the lights were duller and predominantly red and yellow colored, while the gradients around the window were much brighter and had much more blue and green in them.

Explanation: The reason that I was able to see the rainbow colors was because the lens in the 3D glasses acted as a prism, diffracting the white light, which allowed all of the colors that make up the white light to be revealed. This presented itself as a rainbow because white light is made up of all colors of light.

2) BaCl2: We observed a yellow or greenish flame was produced when BaCl2 was burned.

NaCl2: Bright orange flame is produced when burned

KCl: a light purple/violet flame was produced when burned.

Explain: The different colors that were emitted when the elements were put under the flame correspond to which energy levels the elections were getting “excited” to. When excited, atoms want to return to their ground state, which they can do by releasing energy. They release this energy as photons of light, which are special to each atom and the level of excitement their electrons are at. We perceive these different energy sized photons as colors.

3) Inside the spectroscope there was a glowing pink tube. Next to the tube there was a bar that read NANOMETER and this bar had a meter with a faded rainbow gradient that passed across it. This meter also had areas of that rainbow that were dark and clearly defined against the meter in comparison to the rest of the faint rainbow, these bolder, brighter colors were; red in between the 600 and 700, light blue next to the 500 mark, and a darker purple closer to the 400 mark.

Explain: A spectroscope works by breaking light into the wavelengths that make it up, some do this through the use of a prism while others use more complicated methods. By doing this, the light is split up into its own colors which are unique for each element. They are unique to each element because each element can get up to a certain energy level that varies for different types of atoms. Then, when an atom tries to go back to its ground state (the lowest energy level) it has to release energy to get there. Atoms can only release the energy in bursts, they cannot be between energy levels. So, when they jump from the high energy level they’re at to a low one they release these “packets” of energy all at once. Depending on the length of the jump,