Achemist identifies compounds by identifying bright lines in their spectra. she does so by heating the compounds until they glow, sending the light through a diffraction grating, and measuring the positions of first-order spectral lines on a detector 15.0 cm behind the grating. unfortunately, she has lost the card that gives the specifications of the grating. fortunately, she has a known compound that she can use to calibrate the grating. she heats the known compound, which emits light at a wavelength of 501 nm, and observes a spectral line 9.95 cm from the center of the diffraction pattern. part a:

what is the wavelength emitted by compound a that have spectral line detected at position 8.55 cm?

part b:

what is the wavelength emitted by compound b that have spectral line detected at position and 12.15 cm?

 a)    λ = 189.43 10⁻⁹ m  b)    λ = 269.19 10⁻⁹ m

Explanation:

The diffraction network is described by the expression

      d sin θ= m λ

Where m corresponds to the diffraction order

Let's use trigonometry to find the breast

        tan θ = y / L

The diffraction spectrum is measured at very small angles, therefore

      tan θ = sin θ / cos θ = sin θ

We replace

      d y / L = m λ

Let's place in the first order m = 1

Let's look for the separation of the lines (d)

     d = λ  L / y

     d = 501 10⁻⁹ 9.95 10⁻² / 15 10⁻²

     d = 332.33 10⁻⁹ m

Now we can look for the wavelength of the other line

     λ  = d y / L

    λ  = 332.33 10⁻⁹ 8.55 10⁻²/15 10⁻²

    λ = 189.43 10⁻⁹ m

Part B

The compound wavelength B

      λ  = 332.33 10⁻⁹ 12.15 10⁻² / 15 10⁻²

      λ = 269.19 10⁻⁹ m

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hope this ! : )