Innovative Uses of Vernier Technology

In addition to our large variety of experiments offered in our curriculum, teachers use their creativity to bring excitement to the classroom. Find out how our sensors have made the ordinary into the extraordinary!

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Showing 9 results for spectrometer, most recent entries shown first.

Title	Excerpt	Products Used
Studying Enzymes in the Laboratory	Enzymes are molecules that regulate the chemical reactions that occur in all living organisms. Almost all enzymes are globular proteins that act as catalysts, substances that speed up chemical reactions. Enzymes catalyze reactions by reducing the activation energy for a specific reaction to occur and yet are neither destroyed nor altered during this process. Understanding how enzymes work in biological systems is a critical and difficult concept for students to comprehend. Full wavele... [more] Science Subjects: AP/IB, Biology	Logger Pro 3 Vernier SpectroVis
In The Best Light	Study sheds light on merchandise appeal using spectroscopy Have you ever noticed that the bananas you bought look different in the store than they do when you get them home? This is because not all lights used in grocery display cases are the same. The main reason for having different lighting is to improve shelf life of perishable products. Nevertheless, you can be sure some research has gone into determining the best light to entice you to make a purchase. Spectrum in grocery depa... [more] Science Subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Physics	Vernier Spectrometer LabQuest Logger Pro 3
Spectral Analysis of Fireflies	10 year-old Ben Carter of Nashville, Tennessee, was curious about the light given off by a firefly. Ben has inherited his natural curiosity and love of science from his father, Vernier consultant David Carter. Ben borrowed his dad�s Vernier Spectrometer and used it to capture the emission spectra of the fireflies. It took a lot of patience and a bit of luck to capture the data. Ben wanted to be sure to note that no fireflies were harmed in doing this experiment. Download the Logger ... [more] Science Subjects: Biology, Earth Science, Life Science	Vernier Spectrometer Logger Pro 3
Spectrophotometric Analysis of the Metals in a U.S. Five-Cent Coin	A number of methods have been developed to determine the composition of a binary mixture spectrophotometrically. Most of these are directed at mixtures where one component can be isolated from the other or they require a Beer's law experiment to measure the molar absorptivity of each of the substances in the mixture. Vernier consultant, Walter Rohr, came across an article published in the February 1989 Journal of Chem Ed that described a method of resolving mixtures with overlapping spect... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry	Vernier Spectrometer Logger Pro 3
Comparing LED and Traditional Holiday Lights	LED lights are becoming much more common. They�re used in traffic lights, bicycle lights, flashlights, message displays, and their application is growing. LED holiday lights have been available for several years; however, the sales of the LED versions lag behind the traditional incandescent lights, primarily because of cost. (LED lights can be as much as five times more expensive.) Nevertheless, LED lights have several important advantages over conventional incandescent bulbs, including ... [more] Science Subjects: Engineering, General Science, Physics	Light Sensor Surface Temperature Sensor Vernier Spectrometer LabPro Logger Pro 3
Mercury Fingerprint	Spectrum from a "green" fluorescent lamp Did you know that even if a fluorescent lamp is labeled "green" it may still contain some mercury? We used a Vernier Spectrometer to study the emission spectrum of a modern fluorescent tube. It had a very strong peak at 546 nm, one of the characteristic emission wavelengths of mercury. Dispose of your old lamps properly, even if they are marked as "green." You can also use a cool new Logger... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry, Physics	Vernier Spectrometer Logger Pro 3
Determination of Chlorophyll in Olive Oil	Chlorophyll absorbance We bought some fresh spinach to add to our salad for a healthy lunch, and saved a few of the leaves. We then chopped up the spinach leaves and soaked them in ethanol for an hour, to extract chlorophyll. By filtering the liquid and diluting it with distilled water, we had our chlorophyll sample. We ran two tests. The first test was similar to the food dye/mouthwash investigation; we measured adsorbance as a function of wavelength. T... [more] Science Subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental	Logger Pro 3 Vernier Spectrometer
Spectral Analysis of Food Dyes Revisited	The new Vernier Spectrometer allows students to do a wide variety of new lab investigations. To highlight some of its many capabilities, we walked down to the nearest grocery store and picked up a few products to test. We analyzed the visible light absorbance spectrum of various food colorings to see if we could identify the FD&C dyes used in a popular brand of mouthwash. By comparing the "fingerprint" of the food colorings with the absorbance spectrum of mouthwash, it was easy to deter... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry	Vernier Spectrometer Logger Pro 3
Spectral Analysis of Food Dyes	Creating the absorption spectrum of an aqueous sample is easy and fast with the Vernier Spectrometer. The graph below represents the spectral analysis of the four common food dyes. (The color of the line represents the color of the dye.) Students are often surprised to see that yellow dye peaks in the blue wavelengths and red dye peaks in green wavelengths. This activity is a great way to introduce spectral analysis, as it helps students understand the relationship between the ... [more] Science Subjects: Chemistry	Vernier Spectrometer Logger Pro 3