Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES)

Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

Atomic absorption spectroscopy is a technique used to determine the concentration of a specific metal element.
AAS uses the absorption of light to measure the concentration of gas-phase atoms. The concentration measurements are determined from a working calibration curve produced with known concentration standards.

The samples pass through a nebuliser into an acetylene gas flame which vaporises the sample into gas-phase atoms. The light beam, which is produced by a hollow-cathode lamp of the element being measured, then passes through the flame/sample and the absorbency is measured.

Our instrument is a Perkin-Elmer 1100B  Lamps available for use include Cu, Zn, Cd, Ag, Na, K, Fe, Mn and Pb.