These resources are provided for students and instructors to use in studying different types of spectra. In the tutorials and notes below you will find corresponding images of light sources, their spectra, and graphs of light intensity as a function of wavelength. Throughout the lessons, the emphasis is on qualitative visual comparison of the different types of spectra in order to help students develop an intuitive understanding of the differences between them. For a description of how to perform the demonstrations shown here live in your own classroom see the JCE main article*.
These complete lessons can be used by students or as visual aids in lecture.
These pages include notes on how I use these spectra in my classes, high resolution images which you can use in your own presentations, and references to background material which may be useful in preparing lessons.
*These Supplemental Materials accompany the article "Simultaneous Display of Spectral Images and Graphs Using a Web Camera and Fiber-Optic Spectrophotometer" Niece, Brian K. J. Chem. Educ., 2006, 83, 761-764 and are provided with the permission of the Journal.