In this paper we describe an experiment in which radiation emitted by an infrared remote control is passed through a diffraction grating. An image of the diffraction pattern is captured using a cell phone camera and then used to determine the wavelength of the radiation.1

1.
Corresponding ideas were previously published in
J.
Kuhn
,
P.
Vogt
, and
S.
Müller
, “
Neue Experimente mit dem Handy im Physikunterricht
” (translated as “New Experiments with Cellphones in Physics Classroom Education”), edited by
D.
Höttecke
, “
Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung als Beitrag zur Gestaltung partizipativer Demokratie: GDCP-Jahrestagung in Potsdam 2010
” (translated as “Science Education as Contribution of Ideas for Creating Participative Democracy: GDCP-Annual Conference Proceedings, Potsdam/Germany 2010”) (
LIT-Verlag, Münster
/
Germany
,
2011
);
J.
Kuhn
,
P.
Vogt
, and
S.
Müller
, “
Handys und Smartphones — Einsatzmöglichkeiten und Beispielexperimente im Physikunterricht
” (translated as “Cellphones and Smartphones — Capabilities and Examples of Experiments in Physics Classroom Education“),
Praxis der Naturwissenschaften — Physik in der Schule
(translated as “Practice of Sciences — Physics in School“),
7
, 60,
5
11
;
F.
Catelli
,
O.
Giovannini
, and
V. D. A.
Bolzan
, “
Estimating the infrared radiation wavelength emitted by a remote control device using a digital camera
,”
Phys. Educ.
46
,
219
222
(
March 2011
).
2.

Cross-grating films with 900 lines per millimeter (and others) could be ordered for example from Urhammer (a German company for teaching materials; see www. urhammer.de).

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