Signature of the Evaluator: Date (Evaluated):
POLARIMETER
Aim of the Experiment:
To determine the specific rotation of sugars using Laurent’s half shade polarimeter.
Apparatus:
Laurent’s half shade polarimeter, sodium lamp, beakers, measuring cylinder, weighing balance,
glass rods, glucose and fructose.
Diagram:
Diagram of a Half Shade Polarimeter
Theory:
As we know, light propagates through transverse waves therefore, the oscillations are
perpendicular not only in one direction but all directions perpendicular to the direction of the
propagation. Polarisation is a property applying to transverse waves that specifies the
geometrical orientation of the oscillations. It is done by using a device called a polarimeter. In
our experiment, we use a special kind of polarimeter called Laurent’s half shade polarimeter to
improve our accuracy in our measurements. One of the major uses of a polarimeter is to measure
the specific rotation or the optical rotation of a compound.
Specific rotation is a property of a chiral chemical compound. It is defined as the change in
orientation of monochromatic plane-polarized light, per unit distance–concentration product, as
the light passes through a sample of a compound in solution. It is usually expressed in a standard
unit, deg.mL.dm-1.g-1.
Compounds, on the basis of the sign of their optical rotation are classified into two categories,
dextro-rotatory and laevorotatory. From the point of view of the observer, dextrorotation refers to
clockwise or right-handed rotation, and laevorotation refers to counter clockwise or left-handed
rotation.
In our experiment, we are using two kinds of sugars namely, glucose and fructose to determine
the specific rotation of plane polarised light when it is passed through its solution. The diagrams
below represent the structure of the two sugars.
Formula:
Specific Rotation of the plane of polarisation of sugar dissolved in water.
Where, – rotation produced in degree
length of the tube in decimetre
concentration of the sugar solution
mass of sugar dissolved in water in gram
volume of sugar solution
Observations:
• Vernier Constant
• Length of the tube = 2 dm.
• Ambient temperature in the room = 25OC
• Wavelength of light from the sodium lamp = 589nm
Sugar 1 – Glucose
Tabular Column:
Sl no. Concentration Scale reading Angle of Rotation Mean
c though solution Rotation
(in g/cc) (Rn)
st
Per Per cc 1 2nd 1st 2nd
100cc Position Position Position Position
1. 0 0.000 356.2 177.6 0 0 -
2. 20 0.200 22.2 200.1 26 22.5 24.25
3. 10 0.100 8.6 187.2 12.4 9.6 11
4. 5 0.050 1.2 181.7 5 4.1 4.55
5. 2.5 0.025 359.2 180.0 3 2.4 2.7
Graph:
Calculation:
As we know, specific rotation,
Slope obtained from the graph,
Error in specific rotation,
Sugar 2 – Fructose
Tabular Column:
Sl no. Concentration Scale reading Angle of Rotation Mean
c though solution Rotation
(in g/cc) (Rn)
st
Per Per cc 1 2nd 1st 2nd
100cc Position Position Position Position
1. 0 0.000 356.2 177.6 0 0 -0
2. 20 0.200 322.7 142.1 -33.5 -35.5 -34.5
3. 10 0.100 341.7 161.9 -19 -15.7 -17.35
4. 5 0.050 349.4 169.1 -7.6 -8.5 -8.05
5. 2.5 0.025 352.2 172.3 -4 --5.3 -4.65
Graph:
Calculation:
As we know, specific rotation,
Slope obtained from the graph,
Error in specific rotation,
Note: However, there is a negative sign behind the value of rotation of plane polarised light as
mentioned in the tabular column and not in the graph. The negative sign indicates that light turns
anticlockwise and therefore, fructose is a laevo-rotatory compound whereas, glucose is dextro-
rotatory.
Result:
The specific rotation of the provided glucose solution is .
The specific rotation of the provided fructose solution is .
Comments:
In this experiment, the values obtained of the specific rotation of the two sugars, viz., glucose
and fructose are pretty close to the true value to such an extent that they lie in the error bar. We
also learnt a practical application of Laurent’s half shade polarimeter.
Precautions:
• The polarimeter tube and water should be clean.
• There should be no air bubble inside the tube.
• The position of analyser should be set accurately.
• The caps should not be screwed extremely tight to not put strain on the glass windows.
• Reading should be taken when halves of the field of view becomes equally illuminated.
