- #1
PhysicsRock
- 119
- 18
- Homework Statement
- /
- Relevant Equations
- /
As part of my studies, I'm obliged to take an experimental course at the moment, where I have to conduct experiments and write a composition. Today we examined spectral lines of helium with a prism. As part of the evaluation, I had to plot the measured diffraction angles of different colors / wavelengths (which were unknown at the time and left to figure out later) as function of . Now I'm asked to estimate the error in the wavelength from the graphical approach, but I have no idea where to start. There's no expression for the dependence of on , so I can't really do the classical
What I thought of is to try to draw a tangent line as good as possible at a measured wavelength, say , and read off its slope. That would sort of act like and I could calculate an error. However, I don't like two things about that. The first is that the error I get for the value that's off the most (by about ) is too little at about . Second, it just seems too easy to me.
I hope some of you have a suggestion for a good approach. Thank you in advance.
What I thought of is to try to draw a tangent line as good as possible at a measured wavelength, say
I hope some of you have a suggestion for a good approach. Thank you in advance.