Signature of the Sun: Analyzing the Solar Balmer Series Lines

Introduction
We are in many ways a fortunate generation having so many wonderful tools at our disposal on account of the “silicon revolution”. The advent of powerful personal computers has radically changed just about every form of human activity in a few short decades (this author – for example – is of a generation that still used slide rules at school !). Can one imagine – for example – doing linear regression or even simple standard deviation calculations without the use (at very least) of a pocket calculator? In respect of science education, there are many possibilities for effecting realistic computer simulations of any number of experiments that would otherwise demand access to well-equipped laboratories. This is not to run down the necessary ‘ hands-on’ requirements of scientific investigation but rather to consider imaginative ways and means whereby data can be collected and processed in a meaningful scientific manner. Students should be trained to make effective use of...