ERIC Number: EJ1302390
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Apr
Pages: 6
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Multifunctional Webcam Spectrophotometer for Performing Analytical Determination and Measurements of Emission, Absorption, and Fluorescence Spectra
Silva, Wenderson R. F.; Suarez, Willian T.; Reis, Ce´sar; dos Santos, Vagner B.; Carvalho, Felipe Andrade; Reis, Efraim L.; Vicentini, Fernando C.
Journal of Chemical Education, v98 n4 p1442-1447 Apr 2021
This paper reports the development and application of a low-cost multifunctional webcam spectrophotometer for the conduct of molecular absorption and fluorometric measurements. The equipment, which costs approximately US$20 to be fabricated, consists of a webcam, a diffraction grating, and a slit, all positioned inside an MDF box. Spectral measurements were carried out using the multifunctional equipment with the aid of a free software. The equipment was found to be suitable for conducting qualitative and quantitative analyses of fluorescence, absorption, and emission spectra and for analytical determinations in the spectral range of 380.00 to 1000.00 nm with 0.8 nm resolution. By simply changing the light radiation source, the equipment allowed us to determine the thermodynamic equilibrium constant of Alizarin Red S (1,2-dihydroxyanthraquinone-3-sodium sulfonate) and to obtain the fluorescence spectra of chlorophyll and anthocyanins (two natural pigments). The multifunctional spectrophotometer allows one to perform real-time spectral analysis, offers an easy and fast calibration process as an alternative to the commonly applied calibration approach by the diffraction grid equation, and does not require the use of lenses for beam collimation since the webcam lens itself performs this function. The equipment was successfully applied in experiments conducted by a class of 30 students from high school in a science fair to aid them in learning chemistry.
Descriptors: Measurement Equipment, Thermodynamics, Science Experiments, High School Students, Chemistry, Science Instruction, Secondary School Science, Spectroscopy, Radiation
Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A