Limits of Precision in the Balmer Lines Spectroscopy Lab
written by
Timothy Roach
Balmer lines spectroscopy can reach an impressive level of precision even with the common student spectrometer. Understanding the sources of error can help the instructor in guiding and assessing student work as well as in teaching about error analysis itself. We analyze the most significant contributions to error, both random and systematic, including approaches to minimize or measure them. This can be applied to teaching labs whether accuracy is ~ 1% (introductory level) or better than 0.05% (in-depth advanced level).
2018 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College
Part of the BFY Conference series
Baltimore, MD: July 25-27, 2018
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<a href="https://advlabs.aapt.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=14970">Roach, Timothy. "Limits of Precision in the Balmer Lines Spectroscopy Lab." Paper presented at the 2018 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, Baltimore, MD, July 25-27, 2018.</a>
T. Roach, , presented at the 2018 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, Baltimore, MD, 2018, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14970&DocID=5030).
T. Roach, Limits of Precision in the Balmer Lines Spectroscopy Lab, presented at the 2018 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, Baltimore, MD, 2018, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14970&DocID=5030>.
Roach, T. (2018, July 25-27). Limits of Precision in the Balmer Lines Spectroscopy Lab. Paper presented at 2018 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, Baltimore, MD. Retrieved September 7, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14970&DocID=5030
Roach, Timothy. "Limits of Precision in the Balmer Lines Spectroscopy Lab." Paper presented at the 2018 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College, Baltimore, MD, July 25-27, 2018. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14970&DocID=5030 (accessed 7 September 2024).
Roach, Timothy. "Limits of Precision in the Balmer Lines Spectroscopy Lab." 2018 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College. Baltimore, MD: 2018. of BFY Conference. 7 Sep. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14970&DocID=5030>.
@inproceedings{
Author = "Timothy Roach",
Title = {Limits of Precision in the Balmer Lines Spectroscopy Lab},
BookTitle = {2018 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College},
Address = {Baltimore, MD},
Series = {BFY Conference},
Month = {July 25-27},
Year = {2018}
}
%A Timothy Roach %T Limits of Precision in the Balmer Lines Spectroscopy Lab %S BFY Conference %D July 25-27 2018 %C Baltimore, MD %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14970&DocID=5030 %O 2018 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College %O July 25-27 %O application/pdf
%0 Conference Proceedings %A Roach, Timothy %D July 25-27 2018 %T Limits of Precision in the Balmer Lines Spectroscopy Lab %B 2018 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College %C Baltimore, MD %S BFY Conference %8 July 25-27 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=14970&DocID=5030
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