CENCO® AP Physics Lab 2.19: Investigating the Balmer Series

Analyze the diffraction pattern of hydrogen and determine the Rydberg constant, R.

Introducing the new CENCO AP Physics lab series!

Ideal for AP Physics 1 and 2, AP Physics C, IB DP Physics, and advanced/honors physics courses, each of the 35 experiments is aligned with the revised College Board AP curriculum. These innovative labs go way beyond traditional exercises, turning real to world scenarios into true guided to inquiry investigations. Students are given a goal, but the investigation is driven by their ideas. As they draw conclusions, students report their results using the Claim to Evidence to Reasoning model. The teacher guides and student manuals are authored and reviewed by AP Physics teachers with decades of combined experience, so you can trust the setups to be successful in your classroom. All labs come complete with instructions and materials for one lab group of 2 to 4 students. For your convenience, labs are packaged to allow you to purchase only what is required for each experimentI

In this innovative, two-part, inquiry-based investigation, students revisit diffraction, focusing specifically on the effect of the wavelengths of two different lasers. Then, students determine the wavelengths for each of the visible emission lines of the hydrogen spectrum. Graphical analysis allows students to find the Rydberg constant for the Balmer equation.