SPECTROMETERS Spectrometers are used widely in astronomy.

All spectrometers have three basic parts--they produce a spectrum, disperse the spectrum and measure the intensities of lines produced from the spectrum. Every substance and element produces different light frequencies and patterns wh ich are sort of like their own fingerprints. Using this principle, scientists can analyze unknown substances and materials us ing spectrometers then compare the results to known patterns to determine the composition of the test subject. Spectrometers are able to detect light intensity versus frequency. This is important because objects emit or reflect light based on their compositi on and energy levels. Hot objects emit light on specific wavelengths based on what, chemically, is hot . Cold objects reflect or absorb objects based on what is doing the absorbing. By measuring these frequency/intensity pairs we gain information about what an object is made of. If we know the spectrum of the illuminating source, we can observe the changes i n the reflected light to better understand what did the reflecting. Spectroscopy is a technique used to analyse light by breaking it apart into its component colours with a prism or grating and studying the resulting pattern, wh ich is known as a spectrum. Dark absorption and bright emission lines that interrupt the rainbow of colours from the split-apart light allow scientists to 'fingerpr int' the light's source. By studying a star's spectrum, scientists can work out its chemical make-up and temperature. Spectroscopy also allows astronomers to work out the relative velocities of gala xies and supernovae by measuring something called red shift.

how it work To accurately determine a spectrum for substances, a gaseous form of the substan ce must be subjected to light and a spectrum is created. So, when samples are loaded into spectrometers, the high temperature of the mach ine vaporizes the tiny sample and light is refracted accordingly to the composition of the substance being tested. In the case of using spectrometer s for astronomical purposes, incoming wavelengths and frequencies from space are analyzed in a similar fashion to determine the composition of celestial matt er. While spectroscopy appeared to be a promising tool for the new science of astrop hysics, researchers were limited by their equipment. Early spectrographs, such as those used by Henry Draper, used glass prisms to di sperse the light. While simple in principle, prism spectrographs could have a low resolution and it was often difficult to find a prism of sufficient optical quality. An alternative design was to use a diffraction grating to disperse the light col lected by the telescope. This is a surface on which very fine and evenly spaced lines are ruled. These g rooves use the wave properties of light each color a different wavelength to break light into a spectrum. The craft of producing large high-quali ty gratings was especially well-developed in the United States. Henry A. Rowland, an American physicist at Johns Hopkins University, was the per

son most responsible for making the larger and more accurate diffraction gratings that revolutionized spectroscopy in the 1880s. Existing gratings were o f poor quality because it was impossible to obtain uniform line spacings. Rowland's solution was an exceptionally accurate screw to move the device that inscribed the lines on the grating. As many as 43,000 lines per inch could be made on a grating that was twice as large as those available previously. Row land also developed a technique to make spherically concave gratings which were self-focusing. The concave gratings allowed the spectra to be directly focu sed on a photographic plate, making spectroscopy simpler. A picture of the Sun in the light of the main spectral line of hydrogen (H-alpha ) reveals many features in the atmosphere of this ordinary star. Another new device that came into usage about the same time as Rowland's grating s was the spectroheliograph, which gave an image of the entire face of the Sun in a single wavelength of light. This opened up a whole new area of s olar research and enabled researchers to probe features of the sun in more depth. While its invention is generally credited to George Ellery Hale in 1889, earlier versions of the tool had been around since 1870. Hale's new tool allowed researchers to see several new features of the sun. Hale 's work, important in its own right, helped establish him as one of the leading scientist-statesmen of the early 20th century. This facilitated his acti vities promoting and raising funds for new large telescopes and astrophysics in general. He was also able to use his stunning results to eloquently argue that stellar an d solar research complemented each other and that research on the nearest star t o us would help scientists understand the secrets of all other stars. http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/universe/questions_and_ideas/spectroscopy 18/ 09/2013 http://www.ehow.com/about_5372347_spectrometer.html 19/09/2013 www.aip.org/history/cosmology/tools/tools-spectroscopy.htm