Spectroscopy (Phet Simulation)
Sam Fong
Submitted to Mr. Fogarty
Date:26th September, 2022
This first experiment starts out with one atom, single electron, 23.00V, and the element
Hydrogen.
1.Click "fire electron" and observe what happens (you will need to repeat several times)
a. What happens to the electron in the atom? Explain using your new words.
When the electron and the atom collided, the energy level on the atom was raised from
one to two. It was because the electron that was shot excited the electrons in the atom’s
orbit therefore raising the energy level.
b. What is released from the atom? (1)
A photon was released from the atom.
What colour is it? (1)
It is violet
c. What wavelength is appearing on the Spectrometer (if none are appearing, you'll need to
repeat again to build up data). (1)
The wavelength of violet 410 nm
2. Increase the voltage to 27.00V. Reset the Spectrometer. Click on "fire electron" and repeat as
needed (FYI, don't use Continuous, you need time to see what happens). Observe the box on the
right. Note the squiggles when the atom reaches the 3rd energy level. You may want to click
"run in slow motion" option. You need to repeat this several times to observe the several options.
a. What happens as the electron returns to ground state? (1)
When the electron returns to ground state, it emits a photon
b. What new wavelength appears on the spectrometer? (1)
The new wavelength on the spectrometer is 655 nanometres.
c. What colour is it? (1)
The colour that appeared on the spectrometer is red.
3. Increase the voltage to 30.00V. Click "Continuous" and increase the percentage 50%- 100%.
If needed, hit the "play" button. Let it run so that the lines on the spectrometer build up.
a. (Note the number of energy levels and how they are spaced apart from each other) What are
the wavelengths that appear in the visible spectrum and their colours? (4)
The colours that appeared was red with a 655 nm wavelength, indigo with a 435 nm
wavelength, violet with a 410 nm wavelength, cyan with a 485 nm wavelength. And there
are 6 levels of energy with electrons moving between them.
b. Click on "Run in Slow Motion" and observe the squiggles. Which drop corresponds to the
which colours of the wavelengths? For example, a fall from n=3 >to n=1 results in a wavelength
in the far UV. This may take a while. Watch carefully. (4)
There are four visible colours, a fall from n=6>to n=2 results in a wavelength in violet, a
fall from n=3 >to n=2 results in a wavelength in red, a fall from n=5 >to n2 results in a
wavelength in indigo, and a fall from n=4 >to n=2 results in a wavelength in cyan.
4. This second experiment (Mercury, Sodium and Neon) is for Multiple Atoms (be sure to click
on Multiple Atoms box), 30.00V, Continuous, and increase the percentage to 50- 100%. Make
sure the spectrometer box is checked.
Select the element Mercury. Let it run to fill up the spectrometer.
a. Describe the energy levels of the Mercury atom. How do they compare to Hydrogen? Be
specific both in terms of number of energy levels and spacing apart from each other. (2)
The energy level of mercury is 9 and the energy level of hydrogen is 6. Compared to the
energy levels of hydrogen which spreads equally from one to six, mercury’s ground state
is very far from the rest of its energy levels.
b. What colours and wavelengths appear on the spectrometer? (5)
The colours that appeared on the spectrometer are red which has a wavelength of 680 nm,
indigo which has a wavelength of 440 nm, green which has a wavelength of 545 nm,
yellow which has a wavelength of 580 nm, and violet which has a wavelength of 405 nm.
Repeat with Sodium.
c. Describe the energy levels of the Sodium atom. How do they compare to Hydrogen? Again, be
specific in terms of number and spacing of energy levels compared to Hydrogen. (2)
The energy level of sodium is 6 and hydrogen has 6 as well. Compared to hydrogen, the
spacing of energy levels are very close together compared to hydrogen, with its ground
state and level two slightly apart from the group of level 3 to 6.
d. What colours and wavelengths appear on the spectrometer? (2)
The new colours are orange which has a wavelength of 615 nm and yellow which has 590
nm.
Switch to Neon
e. How are the energy levels different from any of the other elements (numbers and spacing)? (2)
neon has 10 energy levels, instead of having equal or gradually increasing spacing, level
2 to 5 are grouped together and 6 to 10 are grouped together. Different groups have some
distance between them, and ground state is very far from the group of level 2 to 5.
f. Describe what you see in the spectrometer in terms of colours, speed of appearance, intensity
of colours? (2)
yellow appeared right away, then green appeared afterwards, then orange, and red at last.
The most intense colour is yellow, the second is green, then orange, and the least is red.
g. How does this relate to Neon lights? To make sense of this, you will need to click on the
"view picture of actual discharge lamps" to see the overall colour which occurs when the
individual wavelength colours are blended. (1)
Neon lights have different types of gases in there, so there will be more colours mixed in
there. And we can analyse where on the spectrum do the different colours lie, and find
out what gases is in the neon light
5. Go back to One Atom, 30.00 V, Continuous electrons. Reset the spectrometer. Switch to
Configurable for the element. Drag the second energy level up/down until it produces
a. A red photon. On the diagram at left draw where its new position must be to do this. (1)
b. A purple photon. Draw its position on the diagram. (1)
C. Describe the differences between the red and purple wavelengths (sizes of the red and purple
squiggles). This may be hard to discern so you may want to switch to "slow motion". (2)
The wavelength of purple is shorter than red which the crests have less space between
them compared to the ones in red’s wave.
6. Increase the number of energy levels to at least 5. Move them all up and down until you can
produce 3 more colored wavelengths. Draw your energy levels with the coloured squiggles on
the diagram and state the size of each wavelength.
The three new colours are yellow, which has a wavelength of 570 nm and result from the fall
from energy level 5 to 4, cyan which has a wavelength of 480 nm and result from the fall from
energy level 4 to 3, indigo which has a wavelength of 440 nm and result from the fall from
energy level 3to 2.
