This will be dodgy, apologies in advance. I hate monitoring and management and have made no notes/done no past paper questions on it (top student)
Underpinning principle: atoms will absorb quanta of light energy (photons) of particular energies, which correspond to certain wavelengths of light, in order to promote an electron from the ground state to the excited state. In AAS, an atomised sample is irradiated with light of a frequency specific to that ion emitted by a hollow cathode lamp which is similarly particular to that ion. Absorption of the frequency is detected and compared to a calibration curve in order to deduce ion concentration.
Positives
- sensitive to ppm (can be up to ppb depending on equipment quality), thus effective in accurately determining concentration of trace metals.
- idk, could be portable. seems pretty small. (warned this would be dodgy haha)
Negatives
- pain in the ass to change that bloody lamp every time you want to test for the presence of a new ion
- my school tried to see one working and we couldn't work out how to use the machine. Clearly not very user friendly and they should do something about that.
It's not portable.
Other advantages include -
- Measure the concentration of metal up to parts per billion
- Can measure the concentration of heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury in water, air or soil. Results could be used by individuals to determine the severity of the pollution and to act on it accordingly.
- The advent of this technology has provided information about trace elements, which was something scientists did not fathom as gravimetric analysis (wet methods) was innaccurate.
- The advent of this technology has not only saved the lives of humans, but also the Australian agricultural industry, estimated to be worth $32 billion. AAS, has enabled scientists to comprehend that soil also require trace elements such as cobalt and other essential nutrients in order to allow for crop growth.
- other metal ions in a solution will not interfere
Disadvantages -
- The use of this technology is expensive
- scientists must know what metal they are testing for before using the machine
- very long process
- involves making numerous standard solutions to calibrate the machine
- can only test one metal at a time.
- scientists must know