PS-3237 wireless polarimeter

The PS-3237 wireless polarimeter provides Bluetooth and USB connectivity for analyzing chiral compounds on an iPad®, Chromebook™, Android tablet, or computer. It is ideal for introductory organic-chemistry and biochemistry experiments, where chiral compounds are a major focus. The PASCO wireless polarimeter operates as follows: Plane-polarized light passes through a vertical sample containing a chiral compound, then through an analyzer to a detector. Optical rotation is determined from the angle between the starting position and the position of optimum transmission at the crossed polarizer. Students use rotation data to calculate sample concentration. Specific rotation, the degrees of rotation per gram/milliliter of solution, is an intrinsic property that can distinguish molecules or identify racemic mixtures. In substances with chiral atomic centers, light propagation is anisotropic: Light vibrating in one dimension travels more slowly than light vibrating in another dimension at 90 degrees to it. One component, such as the horizontal component, is slowed, rotating the resultant vibration plane as it passes through the solution. The second polarizer is then rotated until maximum intensity reaches the detector. The angle from its initial to its final orientation is the optical rotation. The polarimeter uses monochromatic light for the following reason: Just as red light is refracted less than violet in a prism, red light is rotated less than orange in an optically active solution, orange less than green, followed by blue and violet. This can be observed with the OS-9477A polarimeter demonstration set: As a crossed polarizer is rotated to transmit the next color through the aligned polarizing arrangement, a Karo syrup solution between two large polarizers changes gradually from red to violet.

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