1.4 Summary
This chapter focused on the physics of light and how these principles can be used to separate components of UV and visible light into specific wavelengths. While this has mostly been a review of college physics, it was necessary to review these concepts in regard to components of analytical instruments. In the following chapters, the optical physics and components presented in this chapter will be combined to construct instruments capable of measuring the absorbance or emission of gaseous atomic species with visible and UV radiation. These concepts will also be further extended to explain how a variety of additional instrumental components work. Chapter 2 will focus on flame atomic absorption and emission techniques, while Chapter 3 will focus on inductively coupled plasma combined with atomic emission spectrometry. Finally, Chapter 4 will extend atomic spectrometry to include mass spectrometry, the current standard in the analysis of metals in atmospheric, aqueous, soils, and biological tissues.
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