b. Sodium has an emission spectrum with two visible wavelengths, both very close to 590 nm. If you had a light source that contained a mixture of sodium and hydrogen, what color filter would you use to measure only the hydrogen spectrum

Blue or Purple color filter

Explanation:

Given that Sodium has an emission spectrum with wavelength ≈ 590nm and for a wavelength of 590nm  the color is yellow.

Hence To filter out the color ( yellow ) to enable the measurement of the Balmer series of hydrogen spectrum, we have to use a filter that possess the complementary color of yellow ( i.e. purple(RYB color model) or blue (RGB additive color model )

therefore color filter to be used = Blue or Purple

vanderwaal's forces of attraction are the electrostatic intermolecular forces that exist in a molecule due to the temporary or permanent dipoles that are developed in a molecule. in , the major intermolecular forces are dipole-dipole interactions as the molecule is polar (bent structure). so the vanderwaal's forces of interaction in between molecules are the permanent dipole-dipole interactions that develop due to the dipole that exists in between the polar h - s bond. the positively charged hydrogen atom is attracted towards the negative end of the dipole that is sulfur of the adjacent molecule. therefore, these forces of attraction are relatively stronger than that of london dispersion forces that exist in non polar molecules.