ATOMIC SPECTRA LABORATORY

PURPOSE:
- The purpose of this experiment is to become familiar with Rydberg’s equation for
predicting the wavelengths of spectral lines.

MATERIALS
- Power Supply
- Gas discharge tubes (hydrogen, helium, neon, etc.)
- Spectroscope
- Incandescent light source
- Lab jack (set under the power supply)
- Porcelain spot plates

CHEMICALS
- 0.1 M CuSO4
- 0.1 M LiCl
- 0.1 M NaI
- 0.1 M CaCl2
- 0.5 M K2SO4
- 0.1 M MgSO4

HAZARDS
- Gas discharge tubes are hot. Be careful not to burn yourself.

WASTE
- Pour liquids from into the liquid waste container.
DISCUSSION
In 1704, Isaac Newton presented in his book, Opticks, that colorless (white) sunlight is split up
into its component colors when directed through a prism; in a process known as refraction. He
discovered that light is made up of a spectrum of seven distinct colors: Red, Orange, Yellow,
Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. These are the colors of the rainbow. Rainbows are the result of light
refracting through raindrops, each acting like a tiny prism.
The color of a solid object depends upon the color of the light it reflects and what is seen by your
eye. A green object appears green because the light of other colors is absorbed, and the green
light is reflected. A black object absorbs all colors, and a white object reflects all colors. The
color of a transparent liquid similarly results from the transmission of light through a substance.
If the liquid substance is colored, the light of other colors is absorbed by that substance and only
the light that is not absorbed is transmitted to your eye.
The chemistry of an atom depends on the arrangement of its electrons. Electrons in an atom such
as Hydrogen which is depicted below, are normally found in the ground state, n=1. Electrons can
be “excited” to a higher energy level if given a precise amount of energy to go to the next
allowable energy level. Once excited to another energy level, it quickly relaxes to the lowest
energy level, by emitting the energy in the form of a photon of light. The emitted photon energy
is equal to the energy required to excite the electron from the ground state to the excited state. If
the energy of the photon is the same as required for visible light, the atom is said to produce a
photon of a given color.

Photons of light are electromagnetic radiation. As you can see from the diagram below, the
visible spectrum is only a tiny portion of the whole electromagnetic spectrum.
Light can be described as a photon which is a particle, and also as a wave with a frequency and a
wavelength. One mysterious property of light is that it is simultaneously both particle and wave.
A wave of light has a wavelength, described as the distance from crest to crest.

The symbol for wavelength is, λ , in units of nanometers (nm). The wavelength of visible light is
between 400 nm and 700 nm. 1nm = 1x10 -9 m = 1 billionth of a meter.
A particle of light, known as a photon, has an energy, E. The energy of a single photon is
proportional to the wave frequency, v, in units of hertz (Hz). 1Hz=1s-1 .
The energy E of a photon is expressed as:
𝒉𝒄
𝑬 = 𝒉𝒗 𝐨𝐫 𝑬 =
𝝀
Where h is the Planck’s constant, h = 6.626 x10 -34 J . s
And c is the speed of light in vacuum, c = 2.997x108 m/s.
So, the “particle” of light is described by wave properties of frequency and wavelength. This is
known as particle-wave duality which is just one odd aspect of the quantum nature of matter.

Quantum Nature of Atomic Spectra

When Isaac Newton studied sunlight, the spectrum he observed was a continuous spectrum
containing all colors. When individual atoms are excited and allowed to relax, the emitted light
does not consist of all the colors in the rainbow. Only those colors for which an allowable
quantum transition exists will be seen. The emission spectrum for an element will be mostly
dark with bright bands corresponding to an allowed quantum transition. The visible color lines
you see are known as the Balmer series. They correspond to n=3 to n=2 transitions and are
visible. The equation predicts spectral lines that are not visible to the human eye, such as
ultraviolet light, and infrared light.
For the simple case of Hydrogen, the spectral lines are predicted based on the Rydberg equation:

1 1 1
= 𝑅𝐻 ( − )
𝜆 𝑛22 𝑛12
Where RH = 1.097 x 107 m-1 . For the visible spectrum, n2 = 2 and n1 =3,4,5…
For example, if n2=2 and n1=3:
NOTE: Be sure to put your numbers into your calculator correctly. Remember your
order of operations.
1 1 1 1 1 5
= 1.097𝑥107 𝑚−1 ( 2 − 2 ) = 1.097𝑥107 𝑚−1 ( − ) = 1.097𝑥107 𝑚−1 ( )
𝜆 2 3 4 9 36
1
= 𝟏. 𝟓𝟐𝟒 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟔
𝜆
1
To solve for λ, take the inverse, 𝜆 = 6 = 6.56 𝑥 10−7 𝑚
1.524𝑥10 𝑚−1
Converting from meters to nanometers (nm)

−7
1 𝑥 109
6.56 𝑥 10 𝑚 𝑥 = 656𝑛𝑚
1𝑚

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 − 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒

𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = | | 𝑥100%
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
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PROCEDURE
Flame Test - Group 1A metals, 2A metals and Copper (a transition metal).
1. Using a plastic pipette transfer 0.1 M LiCl 2-3 mL to a spot plate.
2. Turn on your Bunsen burner. Adjust the flame until you have two cones. Your professor
will show you how to do this.
3. Once you have your two blue cones, heat your metal spatula at the top of the inner cone
(this is the hottest part of the flame) until your spatula turns orange.
4. Make sure your spot plate is close to the flame. Now take your hot spatula and dip it into
the solution and allow the steam to be directed back into the gas flow of the Bunsen
Burner. Record the flame color on the Report Sheet.
(Note: If the steam is not directed into the burner, the flame will not change to the color
of the respective cations or the color in the flame will be too faint.) See Figure below.

5. Repeat steps 1-4 with the following solutions: 0.1 M CuSO4, 0.1 M NaI, 0.1 M MgSO4,
0.1 M CaCl2, and 0.5 M K2SO4. To ensure that there is not any contamination between
samples, thoroughly heat the spatula until all the solution is burned off from the previous
test.

Atomic Spectra
1. Go to a lab station where a hydrogen gas discharge tube is set up.
2. Turn on the power supply to the gas discharge tube. Observe and describe the color for
the hydrogen lamp as it appears to the naked eye.
3. Place the spectrometer with the slit end facing the discharge tube, and eyepiece toward
you.
4. Look through the eyepiece. Glancing left, be sure you see the colored light entering the
spectroscope. Adjust the position of the scope so the light is brightest.
5. Looking through the eyepiece, glance right. You should see the light spectrum for
hydrogen. Along the bottom of the spectrum are numbers on a grid in units of
nanometers. Do your best to read and record the wavelength of the light and the color.
How many lines do you see?
6. Repeat this process for each of the other discharge lamps your instructor assigns to you.
Record the color without the spectroscope, the number of spectral lines you see in the
scope, and the wavelength to the best estimate.
7. View the incandescent light source through the spectroscope. What colors do you see?
How is this different from atomic spectra?
 REPORT SHEET
Name: ____________________ Partner: ____________________
Flame Test (record color)

0.1 M LiCl 0.5 M K2SO4 0.1 M NaI 0.1 M MgSO4 0.1 M CaCl2 .1 M CuSO4

Record the color of each discharge tube gas and number of different lines seen through a
spectroscope.

Color of Discharge Tube Gas Number of Different lines

Hydrogen
Helium
Mercury
Neon
Nitrogen
Air

Hydrogen Data
Calculate the wavelength for each transition, 3-2, 4-2,5-2,6-2. Then fill in the table and compare
to your observed Hydrogen wavelengths (λ).
Transition Color Theoretical λ nm Observed λ nm Percent Error
3-2
4-2
5-2
6-2

Calculate the energy of each color photon for hydrogen. E = hc/λ

Transition Wavelength nm (color) Energy Joules (J)
3-2
4-2
5-2
6-2
Questions:

1. How are electrons excited in the lab? What happens when they relax to ground
state?

2. Which element produced the smallest number of lines? Which produced the most?
Why do you suppose this is so?

3. Which color in the hydrogen spectrum had the least energy? Which color had the
most energy?

4. How does the energy difference between levels 2 and 3 compare to the energy
difference between levels 3 and 4?

5. Which energy level is closer to the nucleus of an atom? 3 or 2

6. What trend in energy difference between consecutive levels do you notice as you
look at levels farther and farther away from the nucleus?

7. When an iron bar is subjected to a low amount of heat it turns red. Which
electrons does that heat cause to move to higher energy levels? The ones closer to
or the ones farther away from the nucleus? Justify your answer.

8. When an iron bar is subjected to a high amount of heat it turns bright white.
Which electrons does that heat cause to move to higher energy levels? Only the
ones closer to the nucleus or all of them? Justify your answer using the
composition of white light.

9. What is the difference between a line spectrum and a continuous spectrum?

Which source gave each type? Why are they different?
POST LAB
Name: _________________________ Partner: _________________________
Microsoft Excel and Graphing Skills
By Dr. Kennon Deal
There are many software programs available to scientists for data analysis. However, Excel, as
well as some other spreadsheet programs remain the most economical and widely used programs.
Today, we will learn how to use some of the features of Excel. Excel is a very versatile program
with a very large number of features. The features that are presented in this exercise are by no
means “the only way to do it” but are merely one way that is relatively easy and accomplishes
the desired results. As you become more familiar with Excel you will find other features that are
useful or that you may find easier to use. This exercise is written for Excel 2016 with notes for
Excel 2013 and 2010 when it differs.

Using Microsoft Excel 2016

Producing a Spreadsheet
Excel can be used to record data, make calculations, and report data in chart and/or graph format.
This exercise will use Excel and its features to solve a rate law problem. In doing so, you will
learn to use Excel’s equation and calculation features as well as three different graphing
methods.
1) Open Excel and double click on “Blank workbook”

In this example you will build a spreadsheet based on lab data of time and the light absorbance
values measured on a spectrophotometer. You saw this type of date in your Spectral Lab.
Before entering data on the spreadsheet, it is always a good idea to label the spreadsheet and to
include such information as the name of the experimenters, the date, class sections, etc.
2) At the top left of the spreadsheet cell A1 (column A row 1), label the spread sheet as
“Spectrophotometer Experiment” name in cell E1 and the date in cell G1
Note: When entering text, if you exit a text cell and then click back on it and start typing again,
what was there will disappear. Instead, to correct a text box, left click on the cell then left click
on the box under the toolbar where you will see the text that is in your text cell. You can then
correct the text here. For example, go back and put the rate law experiment title in bold print.
For this exercise, we will keep your text boxes on the first line. This will make it easier for you
to follow through the rest of this exercise when it refers to specific cell numbers.
Note: Just as you would with any computer file, you should save the file frequently.
For your own work in the future, you can set up the document any way you wish.

For this exercise you will need a section for time and absorbance data. You can set these up in
columns or rows. In this example, set them up in columns. (For this exercise, the rows or
columns to use are specified so that you can more easily follow the directions.)
3) In cell B3 type the word “Time” and in cell C3, type “Absorbance”.
When you type in the word “Absorbance”, you’ll find that it is longer than the
default cell width. Left click on the box lettered “C” at the top of the column then
slowly slide the cursor to the right until the cursor becomes a vertical line with a
double headed horizontal arrow. Left click and hold then slide the cursor to
obtain the desired cell width OR double click and it will automatically resize.
4) Next enter the following data in the appropriate column.

Time Absorbance
3 0.456
6 0.358
9 0.285
12 0.227
15 0.187
18 0.151
21 0.128
24 0.104

Performing Calculations in Excel

5) Calculate the natural log (ln) of the absorbance values and 1/Abs values. Excel will do
the work, all you must do is enter the correct formula.
6) Label cell D3 as “ln Abs” and cell E3 as “1/Abs”
7) Next, left click on cell D4 (under the heading “ln Abs” and to the right of the cell with
Abs value of 0.456). With cell D4 selected, type the = sign. This signifies to Excel that
you are entering a formula.
 8) Now type LN (note that Excel uses capital letters for natural log rather than the lower
case ln). Next type the left parenthesis and then click on the cell that you want Excel to
use in the calculation. In this case, click on cell C4, then the right parenthesis. Hit enter
and the value -0.7852625 will appear. To calculate the ln of the remaining data, left click
on cell D4 and move the cursor to the lower right corner of the cell. When the cursor
changes from a larger white cross to a smaller black cross, left click and hold, then drag
the cursor down to cell D11.

As an alternative to typing the entire function, excel will list functions that correspond to
the letters you are typing. If you double click on the desired function, the function and the
left parenthesis will appear. You then click on the data box, type the right parenthesis and
hit enter to get your first calculated value. Then click and drag as above to do the
calculation for the rest of the data.
9) In column E4, enter =1/ then click on cell C4. Hit enter and 2.192982 should appear. As
above, compute 1/ values for the rest of the data.

(Note that Excel uses a * for multiplication and a / for division. Also note that in a
mathematical expression that does not involve functions you do not need to use
parenthesis except as you would for normal sequencing of mathematical operations. If
you use a function, such as LN, then you need to enclose the data cell in parenthesis after
the function.)
Your spreadsheet should now look like this:
Time Absorbance ln Abs 1/Abs
3 0.456 -0.785262 2.192982
6 0.358 -1.027222 2.793296
9 0.285 -1.255266 3.508772
12 0.227 -1.482805 4.405286
15 0.187 -1.676647 5.347594
18 0.151 -1.890475 6.622517
21 0.128 -2.055725 7.8125
24 0.104 -2.263364 9.615385

If the calculated data includes more decimal places that desired, you can format the cells to a
specified number of decimal places. For example, we are going to use only four decimal places
for 1/Abs values.
10) Left click the top data box (the 2.192982 box) and while holding the left click, drag down
to the last data cell (the 9.615384 box) to highlight. Then right click and select “Format
cells”. From the pop-up menu, select the “Number” Tab and then “ number” which will
 open an option to specify the number of decimal places. Use the up arrow to specify the
number of decimal places you desire, such as 4.
(As you will see when you select ‘format cells’ there are many formatting other options
available. Take a moment and look over the options.)

Producing Graphs
You are now ready to graph the data.
There are a variety of ways to select the data that we want Excel to graph. This exercise will use
three different methods to produce three different graphs.
Graph I: Time vs Abs
The first graph will be “Time vs. Absorbance” with time as the x-axis and absorbance as the y-
axis.
11) To generate the graph, left click on cell B4 (the cell with time of 3), hold the left click
and drag to the cell C11 (a value of 0.104). (Note: when highlighting data to plot, be
sure that only data is highlighted; not the column headings or blank cells.)
12) With the data cells now highlighted, click on the “Insert” tab at the top of the tool bar and
select scatter plot from the chart options in the center of the new tool bar. Scatter plot is
the icon that looks like a graph with only points plotted.

13) Next select the scatter plot that is only points with no lines. You should get a graph that
looks like the following:
 0.5
0.45 Chart Title
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Labeling your Chart

To label the chart and the axis using Excel 2016, (See below of Excel 2013 and 2010)
14) Left click on the graph and click on the green plus sign. This will open a small vertical
tool bar to the right of the graph. Select Axis, axis titles, chart titles and grid lines.
15) Next, double click on the box on the graph labeled chart title and type in “Time vs
Absorbance”. Then click somewhere on your graph and the title will show up on the
graph. Do the same for the y-axis box and label it “Absorbance” and name the x-axis as
“Time”. Your graph should now look like this one:

Time vs Absorbance
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
Absorbance

0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time

This is one method for generating a graph. In this instance, the data boxes were side by side with
the x-axis data on the left and the y-axis data on the right. The next method will demonstrate the
situation when the data is not located side by side.
Graph II: Time vs ln(Abs)
 16) To graph data that is not side by side, left click on the top data cell for the x-axis and hold
and drag to highlight the data for the x-axis “time” (cell B4 down to cell B11); release the
left click, then while holding down the CTRL button, left click on cell D4 for the y-axis
data “ln(abs),” and drag and highlight through cell D11. Release the left click and CTRL
buttons then click on the Insert tab and then the scatter plot as done above. Label the
Chart Title as “Time vs ln Absorbance” and the axes as done above.

Time vs ln Absorbance
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

-0.5
ln Absorbance

-1

-1.5

-2

-2.5
Time

Graph III: Time vs 1/Abs

In Excel 2016, the third way to generate a graph is: Starting with nothing on your spreadsheet
highlighted, (See below of Excel 2013 and 2010)
17) Left click “Insert” on the toolbar, and then choose the scatterplot and scatterplot with
only data points as done for the examples above. After left clicking the scatterplot icon, a
new blank graph box will appear on the spreadsheet. Right click on the graph and then
select “Select Data” which opens a new dialog box. Under “Legend Entries” left click on
“add”. Click on the middle box (Series X values) for x-axis. Next left click, hold and
highlight the time data cells (B4-B11). When you release the left click the cell addresses
(=Sheet1!$B$4:$B$11) will transfer to the dialog box. Next select the “Series Y values”
box (y-axis) and erase the info that is in the box. Then highlight the 1/Abs data cells (E4-
E11) as done above for the x-axis time data. You will now have cell addresses for both
the x and y-axis in the dialog box. Click OK and the OK in the next box. You should now
have a graph displayed. Label this graph as “Time vs. 1/Abs” and the axis as done above.

Analyzing Data
Often the reason for producing spreadsheets and graphs is to analyze data obtained in laboratory
experiments. Excel will quickly and easily do much of the analysis that you will need to do in
introductory chemistry courses.
In the sample data provided, you need to determine which of the three graphs produces the most
linear plot. Excel will show the “best fit” straight line through a set of data points. It will also
show the linear equation (y=mx+b form) for the best fit line and produce the linear regression
analysis, R2 value for this line. R2 is an indicator of how close the data points fall on a straight
line. The closer R2 is to a value of 1, the more linear the data points.
First analyze the data in the Time vs Absorbance plot. Right click on one of the data points on
the plot which opens a dialog box with an option to “Add Trendline”. Left click on add trendline
which will open another dialog box of options on the right side of your screen. In this box, select
“linear” (which is probably already selected by default), and then near the bottom of the box,
select “Display equation on chart” and “Display R-squared value on chart”. Now drag and move
the equation and R2 next to the title.
18) Your chart should now look like the Time vs Absorbance plot at the bottom of this page.

Time vs. Absorbance y = -0.0161x + 0.4543

R² = 0.9373
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
Absorbance

0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time

Perform the same linear analysis for the other two graphs and you should get R2 = 0.9373 for
time vs absorbance, 0.9976 for time vs ln absorbance, and 0.9737 for time vs 1/absorbance. This
shows that the time vs ln absorbance graph is the most linear of the three graphs.
Using the linear equation: The linear equation produced by Excel for the graphs can be used to
calculate other values of x or y. For instance, in CHEM 1211, a Beer’s Law experiment uses
light absorbance vs concentration of a solution. Once a series of absorbance values are plotted
for solutions of known concentration, the linear equation can be used to determine the
concentration of an unknown solution after measuring its absorbance.
Printing Spreadsheets and Graphs
Printing spreadsheets, especially those with graphs, involves a little more preparation than
printing a simple word document. Select the page layout that you desire. The default is usually
portrait. If you desire to use a horizontal landscape format then left click “Page Layout” tab on
the toolbar, “Orientation” in the sub-toolbar and then landscape. When printing a spreadsheet, I
prefer to show the grid lines and sometimes the letter and number headings. If so, while in the
same sub-toolbar, click on “sheet options” and under “Print” check “Gridlines”. You are now
ready to print using normal Office print commands. In your printer options, change from
“Portrait Orientation” to “Landscape Orientation.”
If you are printing graphs, it is very likely that your graphs do not fit on the page that is going to
be printed; resulting in parts of your graphs being cut off and printed on different pages. To
prevent this, the graphs must be dragged into different positions on the pages. In some situations,
you will see dashed lines on the spreadsheet page which indicate where the edges of the page
will be when printed. If so, then click and drag the graphs into a position so the entire graph will
be on one page not split between multiple pages.
If desired, you can shrink or enlarge a graph to make a better fit by left clicking on the graph,
then grab and hold a corner and move it to obtain the desired size.
If you don’t see the dashed lines on the spreadsheet to determine where to place the graphs, then
one way to figure it out is to attempt to print without actually completing the print command.
First, make sure that you have not selected a graph by clicking on a blank cell of the spreadsheet.
(If you have selected a graph because you have left clicked on it then when you print, only that
graph will be printed, not the entire spreadsheet. In some situations that may in fact be what you
want to do.) After clicking on an empty cell, then select “Print” in the “File” tab of the toolbar. A
preview will show how the page will look when printed. First ensure that the print orientation is
the same as the layout specified in the spreadsheet. In this exercise, select “landscape”
orientation. If the graphs are not positioned where desired, then click the back arrow in the upper
left corner of the screen (Excel 2016 and 2013) or the Home Tab (Excel 2010) to take you back
to the Home Page. When you look on the spreadsheet you should now see dashed lines that show
the page cutoffs. Click and drag the graphs into positions that fall completely on one of the
pages. When satisfied the position and size of the graphs, click on file and print and review the
preview to see if the spreadsheet and graphs are in position. If satisfied, then complete the
printing process by clicking “Print”.
 Labeling your Chart
To label the chart and the axis using Excel 2013, right click on the graph and then left click
somewhere on the spreadsheet. This will open a small vertical tool bar to the right of the graph.
Click on the box with a + sign which will open a box of options. Select Axis, axis titles, chart
titles and grid lines. Next, click on the box on the graph labeled chart title and type in “Time vs
Absorbance”. The typing will appear in the box just above the spreadsheet. When finished, click
somewhere on your graph and the title will show up on the graph. Do the same for the y-axis box
(label Absorbance) and the x-axis title box (Time). Your graph should now look like this one:

To label the chart and the axis using Excel 2010, Right click on the chart, then at the top tool
bar, select “Layout” in Chart Tools. Next Select “Chart Title” and then in the dropdown menu
select where to put the title, such as “Above Chart”. Type in “Time vs. Absorbance”. The typing
will appear in the box just above the spreadsheet. When finished, hit enter and the title will show
up on the graph. Next select “Axis Titles” in the “Layout” tab, then select Primary Horizontal
and Title Below Axis options. Type “Time”, then enter. Repeat for the Y-axis, typing in the label
“Absorbance”.

Graph III: Time vs 1/Abs

In Excel 2013, a third way to generate a graph is: Starting with nothing on your spreadsheet
highlighted, left click “Insert” on the toolbar, and then choose the scatterplot and scatterplot with
only data points as done for the examples above. After left clicking the scatterplot icon, a new
toolbar will open that includes a box for “select data”. Left click select data which opens a new
dialog box. In that box, left click on “add”. Click on the middle box for x-axis then left click,
hold and highlight the time data cells. When you release the left click the cell addresses will
transfer to the dialog box. Next select the bottom box for the y-axis and erase the info that is in
the box. Then highlight the 1/Abs data cells as done above for the x-axis time data. You will now
have cell addresses for both the x and y-axis in the dialog box. Click OK and the OK in the next
box. You should now have a graph displayed. Label this graph as “Time vs. 1/Abs” and the axis
as done above.
In Excel 2010, the third way to generate a graph is: Starting with nothing on your spreadsheet
highlighted, left click “Insert” on the toolbar, and then choose the scatterplot and scatterplot with
only data points as done for the examples above. After left clicking the scatterplot icon, a new
blank graph box will appear on the spreadsheet. Right click on the graph and then select “Select
Data” which opens a new dialog box. In that box, left click on “add”. Click on the middle box for
x-axis then left click, hold and highlight the time data cells. When you release the left click the
cell addresses will transfer to the dialog box. Next select the bottom box for the y-axis and erase
the info that is in the box. Then highlight the 1/Abs data cells as done above for the x-axis time
data. You will now have cell addresses for both the x and y-axis in the dialog box. Click OK and
the OK in the next box. You should now have a graph displayed. . Label this graph as “Time vs.
1/Abs” and the axis as done above.
Frequently Used Excel Functions:
There are many preprogrammed functions in Excel. Go to the Formulas Tab and choose a subject
to explore for a function you want. Below is a list of the ones that I think you will find useful. In
general, type “=”, then the first letters of the function. When you see the function you desire,
double click on it which enters it into your equation. It will then tell you which fields need to be
filled in. If you are working with a column of data you can highlight the desired data then hit
enter or enter it as the first data point, then a colon, and then the last data point. For example,
(C1:C12) would use all data points from C1 up to and including C12. Likewise, a row would be
(C1:H1) or highlight those same points and hit enter.
Math Function Excel Name
1. Mean or average AVERAGE
2. Standard Deviation STDEV
3. t-test T.TEST
4. variance VAR
5. Number of Data Points COUNT
6. Sum of a row or column SUM
7. Square Root SQRT
8. To raise to a power ^ then the digit for the power (y3 would be (y^3)
9. π PI (Note: When you type PI and hit enter, a left parenthesis
will appear. You must leave it and add a right parenthesis. Example 2π would be =2*PI()
or =PI()*2
10. Sort high to low or low to high. To sort a column or row of data, highlight the data
points, then in the home tab, click on Sort & Filter (near the right side of the bar). An
option will open to sort smallest to largest or largest to smallest. Click the desired option.
If you have two columns of data (such as time and absorbance value) that you want to
keep together when sorting, then highlight both columns (or rows) of data, select Sort &
Filter, then select Custom Sort. This allows you to select which column you want the
sorting to be based on but will keep all other data connected to the sorted data.