What Happens When You Play with a 3 Dollar Diffraction Grating?

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A user experimented with a $3 diffraction grating, capturing images of the spectrum emitted by streetlights. The results showed bright lines corresponding to atomic transitions, predominantly yellow-red light with minimal blue, explaining the yellowish appearance of the streetlight. The first image displayed the 0 and 1st order fringes, while the second included 1st and 2nd order fringes. A light pollution filter was used in the third image, effectively removing the yellow spectrum associated with Sodium emissions. The user also created a video demonstrating the effect of an Oxygen-III filter, although the video was later reported as unavailable. The discussion highlighted the educational potential of these experiments in media arts classes, emphasizing the importance of understanding the electromagnetic spectrum and its impact on color perception.
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So I bought a 3 dollar diffraction grating and was playing around with it. Here's a few pictures I took just holding it up in front of my cell phone camera. Notice the bright lines in the spectrum that correspond to specific atomic transitions in the streetlight. The spectrum is dominated by Yellow-Red light and very little Blue, which of course is why the light is yellowish.

The 1st picture is the 0 and 1st order fringes (0 order is just the regular image, no fringes). The 2nd picture is the 1st and 2nd order fringes. The third is identical to the 1st image, but I held up a light pollution filter in front of the grating and camera. Notice the near complete removal of the yellow portion of the spectrum, which should correspond to the light emitted by Sodium in the streetlight. (The light pollution filter is designed to block this specific part of the spectrum to cut down on light pollution when viewing/imaging near or inside of cities)

Also, made a little video with an Oxygen-III filter held in front of it. As I tilted the filter the wavelengths that were passed shifted. Go full screen and high quality to get the best view.
[Apparently I removed the video from my youtube account a few years ago and it has now been lost]
 

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Things like this should be useful in media arts classes (lighting, photography, video, etc).
I took some of these classes and some (but not all) the students did not understand the nature of the electromagnetic spectrum, its relation to light, and our perception of color.
Things like this make matching illuminating light and perceived colors much more real for some.
 
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Says video is unavailable...
 
Weird, it was there when I posted it, but now it is not there.
I put it back, maybe it will stay put this time!
 
BillTre said:
Weird, it was there when I posted it, but now it is not there.
I put it back, maybe it will stay put this time!
Not yours, the one posted by @Drakkith.
 
Wrichik Basu said:
Says video is unavailable...

Hah! I think I removed it from my youtube account! I'll see if I can delete the link.
 
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