Spectrum Images of Light Sources
Here are some aquired spectra of common light sources. There are generally two kinds of light
found in the world:
- Continuous spectrum light, like from the sun, incandescent bulbs, and other thermal sources.
- Discrete emission spectrum light, like from florescent bulbs, mercury or sodium vapor lamps, backlit LCD displays, and neon tubes.
I aquired these images with a diffraction grating held onto a small plastic tube--you can see the slit in the end of the tube on the left side of each image. I just held my digital camera up to the tube by hand, so each aquired spectrum is at a slightly different orientation.
A decent, calibrated spectrometer is only $40--I need to invest in one!
![](cloud_l.jpg) cloud | ![spectrum of cloud](cloud_s.jpg) |
![](crt_blue_l.jpg) crt_blue | ![spectrum of crt_blue](crt_blue_s.jpg) |
![](crt_green_l.jpg) crt_green | ![spectrum of crt_green](crt_green_s.jpg) |
![](crt_red_l.jpg) crt_red | ![spectrum of crt_red](crt_red_s.jpg) |
![](crt_white_l.jpg) crt_white | ![spectrum of crt_white](crt_white_s.jpg) |
![](flo_bedroom_l.jpg) flo_bedroom | ![spectrum of flo_bedroom](flo_bedroom_s.jpg) |
![](flo_garage_l.jpg) flo_garage | ![spectrum of flo_garage](flo_garage_s.jpg) |
![](flo_kitchen_l.jpg) flo_kitchen | ![spectrum of flo_kitchen](flo_kitchen_s.jpg) |
![](flo_livingroom_l.jpg) flo_livingroom | ![spectrum of flo_livingroom](flo_livingroom_s.jpg) |
![](flo_tablepaper_l.jpg) flo_tablepaper | ![spectrum of flo_tablepaper](flo_tablepaper_s.jpg) |
![](flo_table_l.jpg) flo_table | ![spectrum of flo_table](flo_table_s.jpg) |
![](inc_100wbig_l.jpg) inc_100wbig | ![spectrum of inc_100wbig](inc_100wbig_s.jpg) |
![](inc_30w_l.jpg) inc_30w | ![spectrum of inc_30w](inc_30w_s.jpg) |
![](inc_75w_l.jpg) inc_75w | ![spectrum of inc_75w](inc_75w_s.jpg) |
![](lcd_blue_l.jpg) lcd_blue | ![spectrum of lcd_blue](lcd_blue_s.jpg) |
![](lcd_green_l.jpg) lcd_green | ![spectrum of lcd_green](lcd_green_s.jpg) |
![](lcd_red_l.jpg) lcd_red | ![spectrum of lcd_red](lcd_red_s.jpg) |
![](lcd_white_l.jpg) lcd_white | ![spectrum of lcd_white](lcd_white_s.jpg) |
![](mercury_l.jpg) mercury | ![spectrum of mercury](mercury_s.jpg) |
![](sky_l.jpg) sky | ![spectrum of sky](sky_s.jpg) |
![](sun_paper_l.jpg) sun_paper | ![spectrum of sun_paper](sun_paper_s.jpg) |
Orion Sky Lawlor, 2006
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