Development of a simple heliostat for science education

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K00950
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Science education
• Research Institution: Tsuyama National College of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Sato Makoto 津山工業高等専門学校, その他部局等, 教授 (90413830)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: ヘリオスタット / 分光

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The Sun light is a familiar light source which has high intensity, high parallelism, and continuous spectrum. I have developed a simple heliostat to use the sun light for educational light source in a classroom. To control a mirror to lead the sun beam to a desired direction, the orientation of the Sun should be determined with high accuracy (with error less than 0.1 degree). It was recognized that, using a simple equatorial mount, orientation setting error of several degrees in the declination and the right is permissible for practical use.
As a tool for educational usage of the Sun light, a simple spectroscope is made with a DVD-R piece as a transparent grating. The wavelength of spectrum is measured with this tool within the accuracy of 5 nm. Another tool, a simple monochromator is made with a pair of DVD-R pieces. Any wavelength is selected by changing the distance between the DVD-R pieces.

Free Research Field

物理教育