For lab, you need to calculate the photon energies for the bright lines of Hydrogen only! The hydrogen spectrum shows 4 bright lines: red, yellow (sometime rather faint), turquoise and purple.
Calculating the energy of a photon requires the light frequency (n) and Planck’s constant (h).
H = 6.63 x 10-34 Js
Ephoton = hn
Problem: The spectroscopes give us data in terms of wavelength (l) in nanometers.
So, we need to use math to calculate the frequency from the wavelength.
c = ln, where c = the speed of light in a vacuum = 3.00 x 108 m/s.
Hey, what’s nu? n = c/l
Problem: The spectroscope gives us wavelength in nm, but speed of light is in m.
Step 1: convert nm wavelengths to m.
Step 2: use n = c/l to convert wavelength to frequency.
Step 3: use Planck’s equation to calculate photon energy.
Example: Let’s say you observed a purple line at 4.5 in the spectroscope. 4.5 x 100 = 450 nm.
Step 1: 450 nm x (1m/ 1 x 109 nm) = 4.5 x 10-7 m
Step 2: n = 3.00 x 108 m/s = 6.7 x 1014/s (or 6.7 x 1014 s-1)
4.5 x 10-7 m
Step 3: Ephoton = hn = 6.63 x 10-34 Js (6.7 x 1014/s) = 4.4 x 10-19 J.
4.4 x 10-19 Joules.
Show a set of sample calculations in your lab, and then calculate the photon for the other 3 bright lines of hydrogen.