Shedding light on spectrophotometry : the SpecUP educational spectrophotometer
dc.contributor.author | Forbes, Patricia B.C. | |
dc.contributor.author | Nöthling, Johan Antowan | |
dc.contributor.email | patricia.forbes@up.ac.za | en_US |
dc.date.accessioned | 2014-05-29T10:17:55Z | |
dc.date.available | 2014-05-29T10:17:55Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2014-01 | |
dc.description.abstract | Students often regard laboratory instruments as ‘black boxes’ which generate results, without understanding their principles of operation. This lack of understanding is a concern because the correct interpretation of analytical results and the limitations thereof is invariably based on an understanding of the mechanism of measurement. Moreover, a number of tertiary institutions in Africa have very limited resources and access to laboratory equipment, including that related to the field of photonics, which prevents students from acquiring hands-on practical experience. We address both of these challenges by describing how students can assemble a novel, low-cost spectrophotometer, called the SpecUP, which can then be used in a range of experiments. The same kind of information can be generated as that obtained with costly commercial spectrophotometers (albeit of a lower quality). With the SpecUP, students also have the opportunity to vary instrumental parameters and to observe the effects these changes have on their experimental results, allowing for enquiry-based learning of spectroscopic principles. The results obtained for some chemistry-related spectrophotometric experiments are described for each of the two operational modes of the SpecUP, although the instrument can be applied in fields ranging from physics to biochemistry. | en_US |
dc.description.librarian | am2014 | en_US |
dc.description.sponsorship | The CSIR National Laser Centre and the African Laser Centre. | en_US |
dc.description.uri | http://www.sajs.co.za/ | en_US |
dc.identifier.citation | Forbes PBC, Nöthling JA. Shedding light on spectrophotometry: The SpecUP educational spectrophotometer. S Afr J Sci. 2014;110(1/2), Art. #2013-0096, 5 pages. http://dx.DOI.org/ 10.1590/sajs.2014/20130096 | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 0038-2353 (print) | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1996-7489 (online) | |
dc.identifier.other | 10.1590/sajs.2014/20130096 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/39930 | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
dc.publisher | AOSIS Open Journals | en_US |
dc.rights | © 2014. The Authors. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence. | en_US |
dc.subject | Spectrophotometry | en_US |
dc.subject | Educational | en_US |
dc.subject | Spectrophotometer | en_US |
dc.subject | Photonics | en_US |
dc.subject | SpecUP | en_US |
dc.title | Shedding light on spectrophotometry : the SpecUP educational spectrophotometer | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |