Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi! I'm a student testing an experiment with dyes and factors such as pH that affect the color intensity, but my only problem is how to quantify this data (the color intensity). I know there is an extremely expensive product that can do this, called a spectrophotometer, but its price is way out of the question for me!! I also know that another way might be to scan pictures and use photoshop to measure the intensity?? But I am still confused on this topic. Please help!! Thankyou!

Hi sprinklezz101,

Welcome to the Ask an Expert forums.

As you point out, the most accurate way to measure the intensity of light is probably a spectrophotometer. But, you may be able to get qualitative data (as long as the differences in intensity are large enough) using a digital camera. Take a look at the procedure for the Cool Blue Light of Luminol project:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... #procedure

Part of this procedure describes how to qualitatively measure the brightness (or, in other words, intensity) of the light emitted by the luminol reaction. Depending on the details of your experiment, a similar process might work for you. But, to know for sure, I need to know a bit more about your project.

What exactly are you doing for your experiment? Are you looking at light emitted by reactions? Or are you looking at how "strong" a color is under various conditions (something like pastel pink versus highlighter pink)? If it is the latter, we will probably need to think of another way to get your data. So, please post back with details about your procedure and what it is that you want to measure. With that information, we will be much more useful to you!