Curated OER
Atomic Emission Spectra and the Bohr Model of the Atom
High schoolers investigate the wavelengths of spectra lines for common atoms. For this atomic emission spectra lesson plan, students use a transformer and diffraction grating to observe the emission spectra of various atoms. They find...
Curated OER
THE MANY COLORS OF SUNLIGHT
Students examine rainbow components, spectral colors, colors perceived by the eye, hot solids, glowing rarefied gas, absorption, that light is a wave, and optics.
Georgia State University
Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Diffraction
This physics department site provides links about the diffraction of light. Each page includes thorough explanations and meaningful graphics. Some pages include interactive problem-solving practice sections.
Georgia State University
Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Interference
An indexing page for a physics department site about the wave properties of light that lead to interference.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Building a Fancy Spectrograph
Students create and decorate their own spectrographs using simple materials and holographic diffraction gratings. A holographic diffraction grating acts like a prism, showing the visual components of light. After building the...
Other
University of Tennessee Knoxville: Diffraction and Interference
Explains what diffraction and interference are, and what kinds of patterns are produced when light waves pass through a single slit, a double slit, or a diffraction grating. Includes three problems for students to try, with solutions...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Graphing the Rainbow
Students are introduced to different ways of displaying visual spectra, including colored "barcode" spectra, like those produced by a diffraction grating, and line plots displaying intensity versus color, or wavelength. Students learn...
Physics Aviary
Physics Aviary: Emission Spectra Lab
This lab is designed to allow students to look at the spectra of a handful of elements when light from a glowing sample of those elements travels through a diffraction grating.