Physics307L F07:People/Knockel/Lab4

Balmer Series Summary

The Balmer series is when the electrons of hydrogen emit light as they drop from a high principle quantum level to the second level. I attempted to measure the wavelengths of the Balmer series as well as calculate a constant called the Rydberg constant for hydrogen. I then wanted to see how deuterium's (an isotope of hydrogen) analog of the Balmer series compared.

My results showed to a reasonably strong degree that the accepted Rydberg value is correct and that the predicted wavelengths for hydrogen are also correct. I also observed the fact that deuterium should produce very slightly smaller wavelengths.

This lab was pretty fun, so have a look at my much more detailed notebook:

link to my Balmer series notebook