Demonstration of light absorption and light scattering using smartphones

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the use of smartphones in an experiment of light absorption and light scattering. The LED display and camera of the smartphone are used as the light source and as the detector, respectively. The color wheel is used to choose the color of the light source to be shone through the sample for analysis. The detector directly measures the intensity of the light that passes through the sample to study light absorption according to the Beer-Lambert law. On the other hand, to investigate the light scattering, the detector orthogonally measures the intensity of the scattered light from the sample. The results of the light absorption correspond to the Beer-Lambert law. The scattered light from the sample is be measured by a smartphone. The experiment is easy to set up, without the need for any further expensive apparatus. We expect that this experiment will be useful for physics teachers to demonstrate light absorption and light scattering in the classroom or in a physics laboratory. © 2019 IOP Publishing Ltd.