This activity is designed for students to apply their knowledge of mathematics and physics to "real life" situations. Students are presented with the situation that they are on a camping trip and wish to know the wavelength emitted by a star. How can they measure this? They are given a laser to simulate the starlight and use a diffraction grating and a ruler to determine the wavelength of its light. They compare their results with accepted wavelengths given on the electromagnetic spectrum chart in their text.

Concepts

stars

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Additional Tags

wavelengths, camping trip: how can we measure the wavelength of light emitted from stars?, ps.u.3 stars, serc, light wavelength

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Classroom Considerations

• Knovation Readability Score: 3 (1 low difficulty, 5 high difficulty)
• The intended use for this resource is Instructional