Carroll Education Foundation's Grant Recipients and Sponsors 2010

The funding for “Can you see the Spectrum” grant will be used to purchase a class set of portable spectroscopes and fiber optic spectrophotometers. The students will attach the equipment to a hand held computer device that will give data charts, graphs, wavelength, energy, and colored spectrums. The equipment will allow the teachers to enrich the current flame test lab as well as add more challenging activities. The current flame lab tests the students’ ability to see the color electrons produce when heated. The flame lab only gives one color and in reality the atomic emission spectrum that the metal produces, contains many colors based on individual electrons. The fiber optic tubing will transmit data to the handheld computer and will give a read out for all of the colors. The students will be able to make a connection that every electron has different energy levels based on their location in the atom and therefore several colors will be produced in an atomic emissions spectrum. The teachers will then be able to use the data and translate it into energy calculations for electrons.