Application Note: Atomic Absorption (AA)

Atomic absorption is used to identify metals and metalloids in the environment. This technique is based on the absorption of specific wavelengths of light by ground state metals. A flame or graphite furnace is used to convert dissolved metal ions to their ground states. A detector identifies the wavelengths of light that are absorbed by these ground state metals to determine the concentration of metal ions in an unknown sample.

Applications:

• Clinical (Metals in Blood/Urine)
• Environmental (Monitoring rivers, seawater, drinking water, air, petrol, wine, beer, and juice)
• Pharmaceutical (Quantitation of Catalyst)
• Industry (Quantitation of toxic impurities like lead)
• Mining (Quantity of gold in a rock sample)

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