Performance Task 5: Spectrophotometry

Direction: Submit your answer on time. No cheating. No plagiarism.

Critical Thinking and laboratory activity: 2 pts each

1. Mention the visible colors of the spectrum and their corresponding wavelength ranges.

SPECTRUM WAVELENGTH
Violet 380-450 nm (688-789 THz frequency)
Blue 450-495 nm
Green 495-570 nm
Yellow 570-590 nm
Orange 590-620 nm
Red 620-750 nm (400-484 THz frequency)

• Since violet light has the shortest wavelength, it means that it has the highest frequency and
energy. Red seems to have the longest wavelength, the shortest frequency, and the lowest
energy.

2. Describe the difference between absorbance and % transmittance.

• Two similar yet distinct measurements are utilized in spectrometry: transmittance and
absorbance. The primary difference between absorbance and transmittance is that
absorbance measures the amount of incident light that is absorbed when it passes through a
substance, whereas the transmittance measures the amount of light that is transmitted.
• Transmittance increases linearly when the value changes as the path length or concentration is
increased while the value absorbance decreases exponentially.
• Absorbance calculates the transmittance measurement whereas transmittance directly measure
the quantity.
• Absorbance value range between zeros to one while transmittance value ranges from zero to
upward.

3. State and discuss Beer’s Law.

• Beers’s Law states that the concentration of a substance is directly proportional to the amount
of light absorbed or inversely proportional to the logarithm of the transmitted light.
• When the energy or light passes through an absorbing medium, its intensity decreases
exponentially as the concentration of the absorbing medium increases. In other words, a more
concentrated solution absorbs more light than a more dilute solution does.
• The underlying idea is that a light beam weakens as it moves through a chemical solution.
Either distance through a solution or increased concentration causes light to be attenuated.

4. Identify and discuss the main parts of the spectrophotometer.

• Light source
- The light from the light source is known as polychromatic or heterochromatic, since
it is composed of wide range of wave lengths. The polychromatic light is reflected
 back using a plane mirror which passes through an entrance slit, condensing lens and
falls on to the monochromator.

- The most important factors for a light source are range, spectral distribution within
the range, the source of radiant production, stability of the radiant energy, and
temperature.
• Monochromators
- Monochromator disperses the light, and the desired wavelength is focused on the
exit slit using the wavelength selector. These monochromators produce radiations of
single wavelength.
• Exit Slit – controls the width of light beam
• Sample Cell
- also called as Cuvettes.
- are optically transparent cells made of glass, plastic, or quartz.
- It is used to hold the solution in the instrument whose concentration is to be
measured.
• Photodetectors
- The purpose of the detector is to convert the transmitted radiant energy into an
equivalent amount of electrical energy.
• Meter
- Shows the data from the detector.

5. Draw the essential parts of the spectrophotometer.