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Season Three Research Files
Episode Twelve
12:00am-1:00am
When laser light bounces off some materials, most of the scattered light has the same wavelength as the incident light. But a fraction called the Raman spectrum has an altered wavelength due to the characteristic vibration of some molecules in the material. A spectroscope is a device that uses a technique called Raman spectroscopy to identify the parts within the studied object or gas.
The spectroscope takes light and splits it up into its component colors. Different elements make different colors when they glow. Objects and gasses can be made to glow by heating them up in a flame, or by passing electricity through them. The spectroscope spreads out the colors of the light, making it easier to identify the elements by the bright lines seen in the spectroscope.
Researchers study living cells in the same way. The spectroscope uses the same laser beam to illuminate on the cell and analyze the optical spectrum in the scattering light, from which information about species, structures, and molecular conformations within the cell can be provided.
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