Balmer Series — Lab Prep

Source: Smaa Koraym at Johns Hopkins University, MD, USA

  1. Preparation of the Laboratory

    Here, we show the laboratory preparation for 10 students working in pairs, with some excess. Please adjust quantities as needed.

    • To set up for this lab experiment, wear the appropriate personal protective equipment, including a lab coat, chemical splash goggles, and gloves.
    • Place a power base for gas discharge lamps in a central area.
    • Pick up the hydrogen lamp and clean it with a laboratory wipe before setting it in the designated slot of the power base. Then, plug in the lamp base.
    • Wipe the helium and neon lamps and return them to their storage compartment so that you can exchange the lamps when needed during the lab.
    • Assemble handheld UV-Vis spectrophotometers and distribute them to the lab stations to finish the setup.
    • During the lab, you will call up each student group to acquire a spectrum while you operate the hydrogen lamp for up to 30 s. Once all students have recorded a spectrum, you will repeat the process with the helium and neon lamps.
    • If a lamp is still hot when you are done with it, wait 5 min before removing it from the base.