Colours in your pocket: Smartphone-based spectrometers to investigate the quantum world

Abstract

We designed a low cost spectrometer to be used by groups of students with an inquiry approach. This simple equipment allows to investigate the additive and subtractive models of colour formation, to study the selective absorption of a material and explain it from a microscopic point of view. The home made apparatus was used in several experiments showing the quantum nature of the absorption and production of light with the aim of bridging optics and modern physics.