Light Transmission Lab Report
Light Transmission Through Liquids With Different Viscosities
Introduction
Aim
This experiment investigates the effects of different liquid viscosities on light transmission. The results of this experiment could greatly benefit marine biologists or other marine scientists. This would help them figure out how their flashlights would work in different water conditions in the ocean.
Background Research
Spectrophotometers are devices that measure the amount of light absorbed by a certain liquid as a beam of light passes through it. Because all chemicals absorb and reflect light, this device is very useful. Consequently, it is used very frequently, especially at the medical level where it is used to inspect blood molecules and their properties. …show more content…
When the light hits the liquid, its molecules will naturally start vibrating. However, when the frequencies do not match, instead of vibrating at a higher frequency, they will start vibrating in shorter, smaller vibrations. This causes the light to exit the liquid as a wave. This process is called reflection. If the liquid is opaque, the vibrations of the molecules will not pass from atoms to atoms. Instead, these molecules will stay in place and vibrate. Then, the energy from the vibrations will be converted into a light wave, which exits the liquid. (The Physics Classroom, Light Absorption, Reflection, and …show more content…
There were five liquids. For water, the average percentage of light transmitted through was 95.9%. The data was very consistent, and there were no outliers. Every trail was 1% away from the average, at most. The range for the water trials was 1.3%. For Gatorade, the average was 87.4%. This set of data was more widespread than the first. A possible outlier was the first trial, where 91.6% of light passed through the liquid. The range of the gatorade trials was 8.6%. Surprisingly, the average for gatorade was lower than the average for vegetable oil. This could have resulted from not cleaning the vials enough. The transparency of the vials would drastically affect the data. For vegetable oil, the average was 91.6%. The range of these trials was exactly 6%. For olive oil, the average was 85.3%. Olive oil has very similar characteristics compared to vegetable oil. However, its average was nearly 7% below the average of vegetable oil. This result shows that viscosity is the main factor when deciding the how much light transmits through a liquid. The average for maple syrup was exactly 40%. It was observed that the average for maple syrup was more than half the average of olive oil, which, had a viscosity more than double the viscosity level of olive oil. The range of the maple syrup trials was
Introduction
Aim
This experiment investigates the effects of different liquid viscosities on light transmission. The results of this experiment could greatly benefit marine biologists or other marine scientists. This would help them figure out how their flashlights would work in different water conditions in the ocean.
Background Research
Spectrophotometers are devices that measure the amount of light absorbed by a certain liquid as a beam of light passes through it. Because all chemicals absorb and reflect light, this device is very useful. Consequently, it is used very frequently, especially at the medical level where it is used to inspect blood molecules and their properties. …show more content…
When the light hits the liquid, its molecules will naturally start vibrating. However, when the frequencies do not match, instead of vibrating at a higher frequency, they will start vibrating in shorter, smaller vibrations. This causes the light to exit the liquid as a wave. This process is called reflection. If the liquid is opaque, the vibrations of the molecules will not pass from atoms to atoms. Instead, these molecules will stay in place and vibrate. Then, the energy from the vibrations will be converted into a light wave, which exits the liquid. (The Physics Classroom, Light Absorption, Reflection, and …show more content…
There were five liquids. For water, the average percentage of light transmitted through was 95.9%. The data was very consistent, and there were no outliers. Every trail was 1% away from the average, at most. The range for the water trials was 1.3%. For Gatorade, the average was 87.4%. This set of data was more widespread than the first. A possible outlier was the first trial, where 91.6% of light passed through the liquid. The range of the gatorade trials was 8.6%. Surprisingly, the average for gatorade was lower than the average for vegetable oil. This could have resulted from not cleaning the vials enough. The transparency of the vials would drastically affect the data. For vegetable oil, the average was 91.6%. The range of these trials was exactly 6%. For olive oil, the average was 85.3%. Olive oil has very similar characteristics compared to vegetable oil. However, its average was nearly 7% below the average of vegetable oil. This result shows that viscosity is the main factor when deciding the how much light transmits through a liquid. The average for maple syrup was exactly 40%. It was observed that the average for maple syrup was more than half the average of olive oil, which, had a viscosity more than double the viscosity level of olive oil. The range of the maple syrup trials was