Analytical chemistry
Analytical chemistry is a branch of chemistry. It tries to analyze chemicals in things. A simple job would be to see how much zinc is in a piece of brass. There are several methods, like chromatography and mass spectrometry to do this. Flame tests can be used for a basic analysis.
More formally: it is the study of the chemical components of natural and artificial materials.[1]
Qualitative analysis finds what chemical species are in the sample. Quantitative analysis finds out how much of a substance there are in a sample. Substances in a sample are often separated from each other using chromatography before the analysis. This is because a sample can contain many different substances.
Analytical Chemistry Media
Gas chromatography laboratory
Gustav Kirchhoff (left) and Robert Bunsen (right)
The presence of copper in this qualitative analysis is indicated by the bluish-green color of the flame
An accelerator mass spectrometer used for radiocarbon dating and other analysis
Separation of black ink on a thin-layer chromatography plate
Fluorescence microscope image of two mouse cell nuclei in prophase (scale bar is 5 μm)
A calibration curve plot showing limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), dynamic range, and limit of linearity (LOL)
Noise in a thermogravimetric analysis; lower noise in the middle of the plot results from less human activity (and environmental noise) at night
A US Food and Drug Administration scientist uses a portable near-infrared spectroscopy device to inspect lactose for adulteration with melamine
References
- ↑ Holler, F. James; Skoog, Douglas A.; West, Donald M. (1996). Fundamentals of analytical chemistry. Philadelphia: Saunders College Pub. ISBN 0-03-005938-0.
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