On Sun, 24 Oct 2010 09:46:06 -0700, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

On Sat, 23 Oct 2010 22:08:20 -0700, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

On Sun, 24 Oct 2010 02:28:14 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

Now the other day, the bulb in my Anglepoise bench light failed, and as it
was the last 60 watt pearl one I had - nowhere stocking such an animal any
more due to EU ecobollox intervention

More...

"Emission spectra of some compact fluorescent lamps"
http://web.ncf.ca/jim/misc/cfl/

You can check the spectra of some CFL lamps at:
http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Compact%20Fluorescent.htm

"The Double Amici Prism Hand-Held Spectroscope."
Emission spectra of various lamps are furthur down the page.
http://ioannis.virtualcomposer2000.com/spectroscope/amici.html
Incidentally, you might find it amusing to see what CCFL backlit white
looks like on a laptop LCD display [1.3.7], and a Sony Trinitron
[1.11.3]. Also, the authors comments on "Full-Spectrum Lamps" near
the bottom of the page.

Cool stuff. Always interesting to "see" that what we perceive is not
always (or often) 1:1 with what's really there.

Make Magazine vol 24 (due out any day now) will have a DIY article on a
hand-held diffraction grating spectroscope.
http://makezine.com/magazine/ (Note that as of today the link shows
volume 23; subscribers should have received an email link to number 24).

There's also http://sciencefirst.com/product_info...roducts_id=403.
It's kind of clunky (basically a kid's toy) but it does have an
adjustable scale so it can be kinda-sorta calibrated using a known
spectral line from a fluorescent lamp.

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA