Make a Public Lab spectrometer
If you've found your way here after cutting out a spectrometer from the Economist, welcome!
The Economist is running a story about Public Lab and other open source, DIY science groups:
Introduction
This introductory kit (also available here, and more info here) has been co-designed by hundreds of contributors as an entry point to Public Lab's collection of Do-It-Yourself spectrometry projects.
It's not the most robust design, or the most precise. But it's specifically for newcomers to get started on -- a stepping stone on the way to bigger and better DIY designs like the Desktop Spectrometry Starter Kit and many more. This broader initiative is still actively under development by thousands of people coordinating their work across the open Public Lab community! Read more about our challenges we're tackling, as well as the limitations and goals of our designs.
Once you've assembled it (a task in itself!) and noted any ideas for improving it, take the next step by looking at a more advanced activity below.
If you're looking for a more robust design, try our new Lego Spectrometer.
Quick start
If you're ready to jump right in,
Click here to build a spectrometer or Get a kit
Then circle back to the activities listed below.
Why we need you
We're especially interested in people pitching in to test out a new method for determining the concentration of a water sample. We'd deeply appreciate your help in testing it out and troubleshooting!
Click here to try comparing water samples -- but be sure to assemble and calibrate your spectrometer first!
This activity is not complete -- we need your help to flesh it out, troubleshoot it, and refine it so it's both rigorous and easy to do.
If you're not sure how to help, the first step is to ask some questions below!
About Public Lab
Public Lab is a network of thousands of people around the world, working together to:
- collectively understand and address environmental problems that affect people
- develop and share more accessible, affordable, and open source ways to monitor these issues
- support one another as a community to achieve these goals
Anyone may join in -- to take the first step, find a question or project you're interested in, and share your thoughts!
Goals
How can you help? The first thing we're looking for help with is refining this new version of the foldable spectrometer design. We're hoping it'll be stronger, easier, and more intuitive to use than its predecessor, as well as easier to duplicate (you can just copy it onto stiff paper with a laser printer/copier).
To try out the new design and provide feedback, please leave a comment on the assembly instructions, or ask a question on this page
(Above: comparing two samples illuminated by an ultraviolet laser -- image by @cfastie)
Getting started
Before tackling a bigger project, here are some introductory activities geared at helping you build a spectrometer, troubleshoot it, and upload data for comparison:
| Purpose | Category | Status | Author | Time | Difficulty | Replications |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Build a papercraft spectrometer for your phone -- version 2.0 | - | - | @warren | - | - | 2 replications: Try it » |
| Calibrate your spectrometer in Spectral Workbench | verify | review-me | @warren | 15m | easy | 5 replications: Try it » |
| Assemble a DIY Papercraft Spectrometer | build | complete | @abdul | 10min | introductory | 3 replications: Try it » |
| Reduce light inside foldable PL spectrometer | - | - | @xose | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| Scan and compare different gases (in discharge tubes, like neon) using a DIY spectrometer | - | - | @warren | - | - | 27 replications: Try it » |
| Make a narrow slit for a DIY spectrometer out of paper | - | - | @warren | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
| See the Fraunhofer absorption lines in sunlight | verify | draft | @warren | 1h | easy | 4 replications: Try it » |
| Draft: Find the concentration of a liquid with a DIY spectrometer | - | - | @warren | - | - | 0 replications: Try it » |
Activities should include a materials list, costs and a step-by-step guide to construction with photos. Learn what makes a good activity here.
Activities
These are more advanced activities for after you've gotten up and running with the starter activities above.
Activities should include a materials list, costs and a step-by-step guide to construction with photos. Learn what makes a good activity here.
Questions
The easiest way to get involved is to simply ask questions!
| Title | Author | Updated | Likes | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Does the Beer Lambert law apply to the opacity of reagents? | @warren | about 7 years ago | 0 | 4 |
| What's an easy way to compare two liquid samples with a spectrometer? | @warren | about 7 years ago | 1 | 7 |
| Water Filter Effectiveness | @Mempet | over 7 years ago | 1 | 4 |
| Testing Water For Specific Polluting Compounds | @rajanzaveri | over 7 years ago | 1 | 2 |
| What are good containers to use for spectrometry samples? | @warren | about 8 years ago | 0 | 1 |
| Can I upgrade a DIY spectrometer with a Raspberry Pi camera? | @warren | about 8 years ago | 2 | 10 |
| Sample container search | @warren | over 10 years ago | 4 | 12 |
Related topics
Browse related work on Public Lab to see where else you can get involved:
- Turbidity focuses on measuring the opacity of different water samples - #turbidity
- water-sampling focuses on techniques and tips for collecting water samples for environmental testing
- This collects a range of different work on #water-quality
- reagents is focused on using color-changing chemical markers to identify specific pollutants, which could be done with a spectrometer as well
Challenges
Once you've gotten a solid footing with some of the above activities, try tackling one of these unsolved challenges to advance our collaborative work: