How to make a do-it-yourself spectrometer

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To find out what color spectrum a particular light bulb emits in a house, you will need to use a device called a spectrometer. Factory models are very expensive, so you can make a homemade version from improvised materials. To make it is very simple, because in this case it will not require special accuracy.

The main stages of work

The most primitive version of the spectrometer can be made of thick paper or cardboard. But note that the inside of the case must be dark so as not to reflect, but to absorb light. For this purpose, you can use a regular black marker (that is, you just need to paint over the cardboard).
To obtain the spectrum of the emitted light, you will also need a diffraction grating, which is best made from an optical DVD-ROM. You just need to cut out a piece of rectangular shape from the CD, then divide the plates. For a diffraction grating, a transparent layer is needed.

We glue the rectangular plate to the cardboard, and then glue the case itself. A homemade spectrometer works very simply - just point it at the light source in the house and look at the transparent plate cut from the DVD. If you lean the smartphone camera against it, then you can take pictures, and only then use them to analyze the spectrum of a particular light bulb.

Spectrometer with video camera

One must still admit that taking pictures from a smartphone is not entirely convenient. It is best to observe the light source in real time. To do this, instead of the "eye" of the smartphone to the plate, you need to lean against an ordinary computer webcam.

However, for this version of the spectrometer, it is better to make a more durable case - for example, from lightweight foam PVC plastic. The detailed process of making a homemade home spectrometer can be seen in the video on our website.

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