It's a prismatic spectroscope. The "barrel" let sunlight in to act as a reference. The mirror would direct a second source of light into the other tube to compare it to the known fixed lines of sunlight. The additional bits are for holding the sample in place for the mirror. It could be a burning gas or a liquid with light shining through it.
I have just started watching objectivity videos today. I've watched all of them already. When I had got to the last one (#26) I was felling a bit sad, but by the time I had finished watch that one, this one had been uploaded. Feeling LUCKY!
Perhaps the "nasty" device on the side is for locating objects. You could line up one part with a guide star, and finely adjust the angle of the scope relative to that point.
I think the extra port that has the mirror is to provide a light source for comparison or reference, and the little arm to hold a diffraction grating to shine light through, to go into the mirror.
The third arm is to hold a scale that's illuminated and overlayed onto the spectrum for making precise measurements. I suspect the "scary looking bit" is to hold a prism so that your scale can be illuminated in a specific color. So if you're looking at very faint lines say in the blue part of the spectrum, you would use red light for the scale so it wouldn't wash out the spectral lines you are trying to see.
I'm really loving this channel. Next time I visit some sorts of science museum I'll be paying more attention to the presented instruments, imagining Keith talking about them :) That's the only "downside" of these awesome videos - now I need of a pocket Keith explaining things...
I don't know how I just found out about this channel after being subscribed to Numberphile for quite some time now. I guess I must pay more attention. Love these videos by the way.
So I see some good answers, the other port where the candle was pictured is a calibration port. The light from that provides a standard. The other piece wasn't given much camera time, someone suggested it's used to sight certain stars and this is possible. My telescope comes with mars finder that is used to locate a general area in the sky then all of the dials are set to true directions and you can begin mapping. It would be rather rough for this purpose and might have used the moon, by putting the tips above and below it. But it may also be used to hold the elements that would be burned on the candle, does it move over the candle with some sort of sway bar? It looks like it may have been used to pinch copper/magnesium etc. bars that are held to the candle flame to again, calibrate the tool.
Depending on what you were looking at the light might be narrow bands of colors, or the whole rainbow with dark bands. The prism spread the colors out over an exactly defined angle. The eyepiece let you move back and forth along that angle to observe the colors and bands. The "nasty part" was clips and draftman's pens that moved along wit the eyepiece that let the scientist make a record, with great precision, of whatever he was looking for. You'd mount a card in the clips, then move the pen to make a line when you wanted to record it.
Why not use the spectroscope ? It looks like it was almost ready for an experiment and I don't think it would have been damaged by the light. It would have been so cool... Anyway super video as always !
Based on the angle of attachment (with respect to the main scope tube) and ancillary portions around it, the "nasty looking device" [at 3:16] looks as though it could be a sextant attachment for celestial "centering".
The second entry might be there to let a second source of light enter so it can be compared with the observing source. This can be used to calibrate the spectrum since the wavelength of the emissionlines of the secondary source are well known. This technique is partly still in use but in a far more developed way.
Objectivity I am wondering if the second tube (with the possible candle) could be used to have a "reference". For instance, if you would only illuminate the top half of the prism with the candle and the bottom half with incoming telescope light, you can maybe line up the know source with the unknown source, and find out if you have a (partial) match. Just guessing here, no optics background whatsoever here! guess for the arm: something to hold extra optics?
I'm curious if that arm holding the nasty device is just for storage, and think the actual piece attached to it might fit on the end of the 'barrel' somehow to hold a sample of something for analysis purposes. The square next to it looks like it could have been a mirror as well that was used to illuminate any sample properly.
That nasty looking device could be part of a carbon electrode arc lamp for pure light temperature illumination. Alternatively, it could be a holder for a polarizer or something else of a flat profile as of a microscope slide. However, I do believe that it has to do with illumination given the rotatable mirror nearby.
I'm almost thinking that the extra mirror could be used to increase the path length of incoming light? Similar to a michelson interferometer apparatus?
spikey looking things are clamps. The top one is missing the adjustment screws, but you can see them still present on the lower. Possibly for holding samples of various materials to be illuminated, and be examined for their absorption spectra. Basically, a VERY old UV/Vis spectrometer, minus the UV part and minus the fluid cuvette. I guess the candle would be the "blank".
I'd love to see the footage of the scientists that came in to pitch their ideas! you showed a teaser, there must be more..you should put it up on "Objectivity 2"
The arm coming off opposite of the observation port looks like it might be a recording device. Perhaps the nibs would contain ink, and as you passed each wavelength of light, you would drop it to a medium to record the observed spectrum.
I imagine the mirror was a kind of signal booster. It's not precise enough to meaningfully bring in light for study, so it probably guided stray light down the tube and into the prism in order to enhance the view. It could use the same principals as protein crystallography to have the light bounce, redouble, and eventually align with the lattice in the prism (thus boosting the signal). I could see a scientist peering into the scope, and with her off-hand, swiveling the mirror back and forth until the signal from the prism was brightest.
I'm very curious about how every part works. I believe the pins must hold some kind of mirror, or paper for drawing what you see. Maybe some kind of projection device, I don't know... If someone knows please do comment.
Mukul Ashtikar It looks to me like it would split light back toward a sample. The scientist could illuminate a sample with a spectrum and study the specific wavelength as it passed back through the prism. The mirror would be for using a powerful light source namely sunlight.
The nasty device are electrodes. you would put your sample in between them and pass a current through them and the light that was emitted was then observed through the prism. See 43:30 from this PBS video video.pbs.org/video/2365543495/ (Episode 2 of The Mystery of Matter). The small mirror probably collected the light emitted from the sample and redirected it into the prism so the light could be analyzed.
Nice video, I love these "early science" objects. Sadly I have not seen this type of spectroscope before so I am unable to tell what those extra pieces are. Have you switched to a 14 day schedule instead of a weekly schedule or were you just to busy last week with all the things happening. Ps: your Cransley hospice donation link seems to have crashed.
Another awesome video, got any info/objects to do with the NewHorizons Mission? Good job again Brady,Keith and all. Thank you for all this beautiful information xD
Another Idea! It could be an astronomical thermometer! By combining the light from a star (which comes through the main tube) with the light from a glowing hot filament (clamped in the nasty thingy) you could adjust the heat to the point where the color of the filament matches the star. And you know the temperature of the filament so you get to know the temperature of the surface of the sun for example... "black body radiation".
If that was ever used with any photographic plates, and old telescopes that did use an arc as a reference, would have all of the data of what was in the atmosphere at that moment. Greenhouse gases etc. like better than anything else for as long as there's photographic plates of those references.
The "nasty" thing looked to me like an arc lamp of some sort. Maybe the pointy black things are carbon electrodes and you're supposed to hook up a power supply to it and use the arc light as a reference light source?
Looks like the "nasty" part is designed to hold something thin, maybe a wire or some other thin line of material. There are holes and stuff on those pointy "holders" which could have been used to attach electric wires to run current through the clamped "thing" to heat it up to a point in which it glows and its spectrum could be studied... or maybe it's just all my imagination...
We used spectroscopes during our biophysic classes at medicine. It's an awesome invention, mainly for the astrophysicists, because the distance you can observe light from is practically unlimited. We used it to determine what toxic element was contained in a given blood sample. The one we used looked almost the same =D.
Please tell me someone is producing replicas of these because i want one to fiddle around with. Also, the "sinister-looking" bit; I think it may have perhaps been intended to hold samples of minerals and materials for analysis? That would be my guess, anyway.
If I don't see somebody post a gif of Brady firing the "Machine gun" in the next Hallo Internet thread on Reddit, I'm going to be extremely disappointed.
Pointy bits appear to be for holding a compound before applying flame to view the atomic spectra on its component elements in the lab. (put a lump between the pointy bits and then get it hot to excite the atoms) On a side note, a friend over my shoulder saw the device and asked if it was a steampunk machine-gun.
Is it possible that the mirror end was used to shine the light spectrum onto a wall with a scale so a graph could be created? OR, the two opposing tweezers look like they may hold a mineral or some sample that could be observed by illumination and the mirror cold capture the light and direct it back to the prism for observation?
Hobbyloosii Clearly they didn't do that. After all, as pointed out in the video, Helium was only discovered in the event in which the corona of the sun was exposed for spectroscopy. With that said, I'm sure this was just an off-the-wall proposition made by Brady that Keith hardly took notice of.
Hobbyloosii the refracted light is not directed to your eyes. it's cast on a scale which you observe. i hope it clears some confusion, i have used some of these in chemistry to observe various gas in plasma state. it basically allows you to see the spectral emission of the various electrons moving between orbital state in a energized gas. since every element has it's own orbital configuration, you can deduct it's nature.
It amazes the sh@t out of me that anyone could think of these experiments 158 years ago and now, most people don't understand why a glass of cold liquid sweats in hot weather.
Brady(or whoever may be reading this) could I please get links to all the channels that you are part of? I know there's quite a few, but i'm not sure if i'm subscribed to all. Thanks in advance.
They used a high voltage Arc as a source of light. That's what that pointy thing is for. You use the mirror and the Arc, is a reference. Oh, the pointy things, you've never touched it? That's atmosphere, and should be missing. When you look at the sun, it will be.
Now, I know there's a God. This is the most accurate and critical environmental data, and of all of the telescopes that had spectrometers, if the calibration is there as a reference, atmospheric data is the result of the ARC!!!!!!!!!
It's a prismatic spectroscope. The "barrel" let sunlight in to act as a reference. The mirror would direct a second source of light into the other tube to compare it to the known fixed lines of sunlight. The additional bits are for holding the sample in place for the mirror. It could be a burning gas or a liquid with light shining through it.
3:20 it's for holding microscope slides, so you can put a drop of stuff onto a slide and see what the spot is made of.
I have just started watching objectivity videos today. I've watched all of them already. When I had got to the last one (#26) I was felling a bit sad, but by the time I had finished watch that one, this one had been uploaded. Feeling LUCKY!
Perhaps the "nasty" device on the side is for locating objects. You could line up one part with a guide star, and finely adjust the angle of the scope relative to that point.
Keith is a legend. Never stop making these videos Brady!
I think the extra port that has the mirror is to provide a light source for comparison or reference, and the little arm to hold a diffraction grating to shine light through, to go into the mirror.
bgdwiepp Yep, it is for calibration. They would spray some solution into the flame, like sodium chloride and look for the emission lines of sodium
The third arm is to hold a scale that's illuminated and overlayed onto the spectrum for making precise measurements. I suspect the "scary looking bit" is to hold a prism so that your scale can be illuminated in a specific color. So if you're looking at very faint lines say in the blue part of the spectrum, you would use red light for the scale so it wouldn't wash out the spectral lines you are trying to see.
I'm really loving this channel. Next time I visit some sorts of science museum I'll be paying more attention to the presented instruments, imagining Keith talking about them :) That's the only "downside" of these awesome videos - now I need of a pocket Keith explaining things...
Cassiopeia7o7 remember, next time you're in London you can visit The Royal Society and meet Keith in real life!
Objectivity #KeithRocks (I'll get it trending one of these days, Brady! ;)
Objectivity Can we ask him for his autograph? :D
Objectivity Will we be getting a 'Keith Soundboard Keyring' as merchandise? I would buy at least 5. :P
I don't know how I just found out about this channel after being subscribed to Numberphile for quite some time now. I guess I must pay more attention. Love these videos by the way.
Great vid. And we have one of those (albeit more modern) looking at the composition of Pluto as I type this. That's just awesome.
So I see some good answers, the other port where the candle was pictured is a calibration port. The light from that provides a standard. The other piece wasn't given much camera time, someone suggested it's used to sight certain stars and this is possible. My telescope comes with mars finder that is used to locate a general area in the sky then all of the dials are set to true directions and you can begin mapping. It would be rather rough for this purpose and might have used the moon, by putting the tips above and below it. But it may also be used to hold the elements that would be burned on the candle, does it move over the candle with some sort of sway bar? It looks like it may have been used to pinch copper/magnesium etc. bars that are held to the candle flame to again, calibrate the tool.
I just love these! What a cool look into a wonderful place!
Depending on what you were looking at the light might be narrow bands of colors, or the whole rainbow with dark bands. The prism spread the colors out over an exactly defined angle. The eyepiece let you move back and forth along that angle to observe the colors and bands.
The "nasty part" was clips and draftman's pens that moved along wit the eyepiece that let the scientist make a record, with great precision, of whatever he was looking for. You'd mount a card in the clips, then move the pen to make a line when you wanted to record it.
Does keith really know these info off the top of his head or does he look it up before the vid ??
TheSnobar put simply: the extent of Keith's knowledge is unfathomable.
Objectivity All hail Keith the all knowing ! Thanks for all the video's
TheSnobar Keith is the Oracle
TheSnobar I like to imagine he knows everything off the top of his head, but he and Brady probably have a read of the item notes before the video.
TheSnobar Perhaps he only chooses the items that he knows the most about
Beautiful !!
Why not use the spectroscope ? It looks like it was almost ready for an experiment and I don't think it would have been damaged by the light. It would have been so cool... Anyway super video as always !
Based on the angle of attachment (with respect to the main scope tube) and ancillary portions around it, the "nasty looking device" [at 3:16] looks as though it could be a sextant attachment for celestial "centering".
case MasterxL interesting!
The second entry might be there to let a second source of light enter so it can be compared with the observing source. This can be used to calibrate the spectrum since the wavelength of the emissionlines of the secondary source are well known.
This technique is partly still in use but in a far more developed way.
love this channel
Looking like a badass explorer on the thumbnail, Brady! Gratz!
Thanks for another great video!
The pointy device, was it to put an electric arc across to see the colour spectrum in the arc.. Maybe to compare to lightning?
Objectivity I am wondering if the second tube (with the possible candle) could be used to have a "reference". For instance, if you would only illuminate the top half of the prism with the candle and the bottom half with incoming telescope light, you can maybe line up the know source with the unknown source, and find out if you have a (partial) match.
Just guessing here, no optics background whatsoever here!
guess for the arm: something to hold extra optics?
I'm curious if that arm holding the nasty device is just for storage, and think the actual piece attached to it might fit on the end of the 'barrel' somehow to hold a sample of something for analysis purposes. The square next to it looks like it could have been a mirror as well that was used to illuminate any sample properly.
That nasty looking device could be part of a carbon electrode arc lamp for pure light temperature illumination. Alternatively, it could be a holder for a polarizer or something else of a flat profile as of a microscope slide. However, I do believe that it has to do with illumination given the rotatable mirror nearby.
Could the sharp accessory be for applying electricity to a metal sample to observe emission spectra?
looking at brady in these vids is like watching a 7 year old show the newly opened presents to everyone
I'm almost thinking that the extra mirror could be used to increase the path length of incoming light? Similar to a michelson interferometer apparatus?
I believe the arm coming off is where you put a object that you want to try to get a spetrum of.
spikey looking things are clamps. The top one is missing the adjustment screws, but you can see them still present on the lower.
Possibly for holding samples of various materials to be illuminated, and be examined for their absorption spectra. Basically, a VERY old UV/Vis spectrometer, minus the UV part and minus the fluid cuvette. I guess the candle would be the "blank".
Great to see more subscribers
I'd love to see the spectrum of one of the alkali or earth alkali metals through this spectroscope.
Is it possible that the candle and extra pointy bits were used for something sort of schlieren mumbo jumbo?
I'd love to see the footage of the scientists that came in to pitch their ideas! you showed a teaser, there must be more..you should put it up on "Objectivity 2"
The cinematic shot of Brady pretending it's a machine gun. Thanks, James.
I think the secondary tube with the mirror attachment could serve as a reference for a well categorized element like hydrogen.
The arm coming off opposite of the observation port looks like it might be a recording device. Perhaps the nibs would contain ink, and as you passed each wavelength of light, you would drop it to a medium to record the observed spectrum.
I have a suggestion. Why not a video with Professor Poliakoff explaining how chemists use a Spectroscope?
I imagine the mirror was a kind of signal booster. It's not precise enough to meaningfully bring in light for study, so it probably guided stray light down the tube and into the prism in order to enhance the view.
It could use the same principals as protein crystallography to have the light bounce, redouble, and eventually align with the lattice in the prism (thus boosting the signal). I could see a scientist peering into the scope, and with her off-hand, swiveling the mirror back and forth until the signal from the prism was brightest.
I'm very curious about how every part works. I believe the pins must hold some kind of mirror, or paper for drawing what you see. Maybe some kind of projection device, I don't know... If someone knows please do comment.
Not too sure but the side scope you mention might be used to calibrate the instrument.
Mukul Ashtikar It looks to me like it would split light back toward a sample. The scientist could illuminate a sample with a spectrum and study the specific wavelength as it passed back through the prism. The mirror would be for using a powerful light source namely sunlight.
that spectroscope is as old as Canada! Happy 150th spectroscope!
The nasty device are electrodes. you would put your sample in between them and pass a current through them and the light that was emitted was then observed through the prism. See 43:30 from this PBS video video.pbs.org/video/2365543495/ (Episode 2 of The Mystery of Matter). The small mirror probably collected the light emitted from the sample and redirected it into the prism so the light could be analyzed.
I was wondering when you thought that it looked like a machine gun, Does the royal society have any weapons in the vaults? Historical of course :P
Lonitec This is a good thought. Got me wondering now as well.
Lonitec i'm not sure about fire arms but swords and blades would have to be present.
aden fishsticks I'd love to see some of these blades, That sounds really cool. :P
Lonitec The Royal Society has a VERY fancy mace that we've had our eye on for a while..
Objectivity Thing for next video maybe? :)
Nice video, I love these "early science" objects.
Sadly I have not seen this type of spectroscope before so I am unable to tell what those extra pieces are.
Have you switched to a 14 day schedule instead of a weekly schedule or were you just to busy last week with all the things happening.
Ps: your Cransley hospice donation link seems to have crashed.
Guess I've been too eager to watch these videos to notice, but is there a set schedule for release of these? Do they come out every Tuesday?
that would be for mineral spectroscopy, the pins might hold the object in place
Another awesome video, got any info/objects to do with the NewHorizons Mission?
Good job again Brady,Keith and all. Thank you for all this beautiful information xD
Good video! But I'm I the only one that doesn't understand how additional light can help to observe the spectrum of a sample?
Another Idea! It could be an astronomical thermometer! By combining the light from a star (which comes through the main tube) with the light from a glowing hot filament (clamped in the nasty thingy) you could adjust the heat to the point where the color of the filament matches the star. And you know the temperature of the filament so you get to know the temperature of the surface of the sun for example... "black body radiation".
Brady is there any (extra) footage of the scientists guessing the parts?
Great videos, but longer videos -- that go into more details, but would have to be released half as often -- would be "better", I think.
If that was ever used with any photographic plates, and old telescopes that did use an arc as a reference, would have all of the data of what was in the atmosphere at that moment. Greenhouse gases etc. like better than anything else for as long as there's photographic plates of those references.
The "nasty" thing looked to me like an arc lamp of some sort. Maybe the pointy black things are carbon electrodes and you're supposed to hook up a power supply to it and use the arc light as a reference light source?
Looks like the "nasty" part is designed to hold something thin, maybe a wire or some other thin line of material. There are holes and stuff on those pointy "holders" which could have been used to attach electric wires to run current through the clamped "thing" to heat it up to a point in which it glows and its spectrum could be studied... or maybe it's just all my imagination...
-It kinda looks like a machinegun
-Son, put it down, it's for when mommy feels alone
Is it just my headphones breaking or is the audio a little scratchy-sounding?
Nice one! (As always) ;)
Eduardo Hermes cheers Eduardo!
We used spectroscopes during our biophysic classes at medicine. It's an awesome invention, mainly for the astrophysicists, because the distance you can observe light from is practically unlimited. We used it to determine what toxic element was contained in a given blood sample. The one we used looked almost the same =D.
Would there be objectivity without Keith's?
Jack Walsh It would be boring though
Pretty interesting that they discovered helium during a solar eclipse. I never would have guessed it!
Definitely an interesting object, and very cool :-)
A Candle should be a Standard Candle, with a known spectrum good for callibrating what you're looking at.
I'm all caught up! It was a good day... :)
Please tell me someone is producing replicas of these because i want one to fiddle around with.
Also, the "sinister-looking" bit; I think it may have perhaps been intended to hold samples of minerals and materials for analysis? That would be my guess, anyway.
Brady, at fist glance at the beginning, I thought you were displaying your own large piece of science, if you know what I mean.
The "nasty bit" as you call it, is to hold your cheese while you're looking through the scope. Obviously.
If I don't see somebody post a gif of Brady firing the "Machine gun" in the next Hallo Internet thread on Reddit, I'm going to be extremely disappointed.
Pointy bits appear to be for holding a compound before applying flame to view the atomic spectra on its component elements in the lab. (put a lump between the pointy bits and then get it hot to excite the atoms)
On a side note, a friend over my shoulder saw the device and asked if it was a steampunk machine-gun.
Is it possible that the mirror end was used to shine the light spectrum onto a wall with a scale so a graph could be created? OR, the two opposing tweezers look like they may hold a mineral or some sample that could be observed by illumination and the mirror cold capture the light and direct it back to the prism for observation?
I wanna see Keiths tie!
Bowie Sensei Probably has some awesome history to it too.
Could the nasty looking thing be for a ...whatsthewordinenglish... spark gap light?
look at this morty this is as sciency looking as it comes
You point it directly at the sun and observe it with the naked eye...? You should only do that if it is your intention to go blind.
Hobbyloosii Being blind is the prerequisite to becoming an accomplished astronomer.
Hobbyloosii I don't know if that is right, afterall this should filter anything but the visible light, so the harmful UV rays won't hit your eyes
Hobbyloosii Clearly they didn't do that. After all, as pointed out in the video, Helium was only discovered in the event in which the corona of the sun was exposed for spectroscopy. With that said, I'm sure this was just an off-the-wall proposition made by Brady that Keith hardly took notice of.
Hobbyloosii the refracted light is not directed to your eyes. it's cast on a scale which you observe. i hope it clears some confusion, i have used some of these in chemistry to observe various gas in plasma state. it basically allows you to see the spectral emission of the various electrons moving between orbital state in a energized gas. since every element has it's own orbital configuration, you can deduct it's nature.
"Do not look into laser with remaining eye."
It amazes the sh@t out of me that anyone could think of these experiments 158 years ago and now, most people don't understand why a glass of cold liquid sweats in hot weather.
We have planet wide habitat management to be concerned with.
Oh, cool, "Helium" - the sun element! Never thought of where the name came from.
Brady(or whoever may be reading this) could I please get links to all the channels that you are part of? I know there's quite a few, but i'm not sure if i'm subscribed to all. Thanks in advance.
They used a high voltage Arc as a source of light. That's what that pointy thing is for. You use the mirror and the Arc, is a reference. Oh, the pointy things, you've never touched it? That's atmosphere, and should be missing. When you look at the sun, it will be.
I have never seen that thing in my life, and the guy at the museum doesn't even know what the pointy things are for!
We've got DATA!!!!
Now, I know there's a God. This is the most accurate and critical environmental data, and of all of the telescopes that had spectrometers, if the calibration is there as a reference, atmospheric data is the result of the ARC!!!!!!!!!