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Building a Simple Spectroscope (2016)

64 points by DanBC 7y ago

DanBC 7y ago
I submitted this because it's a neat and simple thing to make (although obviously watch out for the razor blades, using one to make a slit in heavy duty aluminium foil might be a better idea) abut also because the site is full of simple science toys. The polariscope is also fun and easy enough to make: https://scitoys.com/polariscope.html https://scitoys.com/polariscope.html
- jsjohnst 7y ago
  I’d say the “(2016)” isn’t needed for something like this, but thanks for posting. Definitely going to build some of the stuff there.
jacquesm 7y ago
Very neat. The spectrum of the sun was recorded in much the same way long ago, the film ran for 100's of feet to get very high resolution spectra. These were then used to determine the composition of the Sun.
i_am_nomad 7y ago
Is there a public database of spectral lines that would enable you to do some kind of lookup, and determine the chemistry of what the spectroscope is looking at?
- joshvm 7y ago
  NIST https://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/ASD/lines_form.html https://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/ASD/lines_form.html Used a lot for calibration to match arc spectra to catalogue emission lines. Harder in general because these "toy" spectrometers have poor resolution so a lot of lines get blended or broadened. You can also look at spectra on Public Labs' online database to compare to. A lot of stuff you're likely to look at is well characterised eg hydrogen lines in a Solar spectrum, or emission lines from a lamp containing mercury.
kelsolaar 7y ago
I made one that is a bit more solid and (slightly) more expensive with a PVC tube and a diffraction grating a few years ago: https://thomasmansencal.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-homemade-spectroscope.html https://thomasmansencal.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-homemade-spec.... With a good DSLR camera, it produces really nice spectra. There is a companion repository to slice and undistort the spectra given known emission lines: https://github.com/colour-science/colour-spectroscope https://github.com/colour-science/colour-spectroscope
knolan 7y ago
There is also the paper craft spectrometer kits sold by the Public Lab. I can’t find the version I bought which included a cheap USB board camera but here is a smartphone version: https://publiclab.org/wiki/papercraft-spectrometer https://publiclab.org/wiki/papercraft-spectrometer
mobilemidget 7y ago
interest read, though please fix website, you are leaking important information Warning: DateTime::createFromFormat(): Invalid date.timezone value '-7', we selected the timezone 'UTC' for now. in /var/www/vhosts/scitoys.com/httpdocs/vendor/symfony/http-foundation/ResponseHeaderBag.php on line 336

64 points by DanBC 7y ago

I submitted this because it's a neat and simple thing to make (although obviously watch out for the razor blades, using one to make a slit in heavy duty aluminium foil might be a better idea) abut also because the site is full of simple science toys. The polariscope is also fun and easy enough to make: https://scitoys.com/polariscope.html https://scitoys.com/polariscope.html

jsjohnst 7y ago
I’d say the “(2016)” isn’t needed for something like this, but thanks for posting. Definitely going to build some of the stuff there.

jacquesm 7y ago

Very neat. The spectrum of the sun was recorded in much the same way long ago, the film ran for 100's of feet to get very high resolution spectra. These were then used to determine the composition of the Sun.

i_am_nomad 7y ago

Is there a public database of spectral lines that would enable you to do some kind of lookup, and determine the chemistry of what the spectroscope is looking at?

joshvm 7y ago
NIST https://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/ASD/lines_form.html https://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/ASD/lines_form.html Used a lot for calibration to match arc spectra to catalogue emission lines. Harder in general because these "toy" spectrometers have poor resolution so a lot of lines get blended or broadened. You can also look at spectra on Public Labs' online database to compare to. A lot of stuff you're likely to look at is well characterised eg hydrogen lines in a Solar spectrum, or emission lines from a lamp containing mercury.

kelsolaar 7y ago

I made one that is a bit more solid and (slightly) more expensive with a PVC tube and a diffraction grating a few years ago: https://thomasmansencal.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-homemade-spectroscope.html https://thomasmansencal.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-homemade-spec.... With a good DSLR camera, it produces really nice spectra. There is a companion repository to slice and undistort the spectra given known emission lines: https://github.com/colour-science/colour-spectroscope https://github.com/colour-science/colour-spectroscope

knolan 7y ago

There is also the paper craft spectrometer kits sold by the Public Lab. I can’t find the version I bought which included a cheap USB board camera but here is a smartphone version: https://publiclab.org/wiki/papercraft-spectrometer https://publiclab.org/wiki/papercraft-spectrometer

mobilemidget 7y ago

interest read, though please fix website, you are leaking important information Warning: DateTime::createFromFormat(): Invalid date.timezone value '-7', we selected the timezone 'UTC' for now. in /var/www/vhosts/scitoys.com/httpdocs/vendor/symfony/http-foundation/ResponseHeaderBag.php on line 336