Transmittance and absorbance are key terms in absorption spectrometry. Transmittance is the ratio of the transmitted beam intensity to the incident beam intensity after it passes through a sample. Absorbance is defined as the negative log of transmittance and increases as transmittance decreases. Beer's law states that absorbance is directly proportional to the concentration of the absorbing species in a sample and the path length through the sample. It can be used for quantitative analysis in both atomic and molecular absorption measurements.
Transmittance and absorbance are key terms in absorption spectrometry. Transmittance is the ratio of the transmitted beam intensity to the incident beam intensity after it passes through a sample. Absorbance is defined as the negative log of transmittance and increases as transmittance decreases. Beer's law states that absorbance is directly proportional to the concentration of the absorbing species in a sample and the path length through the sample. It can be used for quantitative analysis in both atomic and molecular absorption measurements.
Transmittance and absorbance are key terms in absorption spectrometry. Transmittance is the ratio of the transmitted beam intensity to the incident beam intensity after it passes through a sample. Absorbance is defined as the negative log of transmittance and increases as transmittance decreases. Beer's law states that absorbance is directly proportional to the concentration of the absorbing species in a sample and the path length through the sample. It can be used for quantitative analysis in both atomic and molecular absorption measurements.
Two widely used terms in absorption spectrometry are:
i)Transmittance ii)Absorbance -These terms are related to the ratio of power of incident beam of radiation(P o ) & transmitted beam of radiation(P). i)Transmittance(T): -A beam of parellel radiation having power of P o is passed through a medium having a thickness of b cm & a concentration c of an absorbing species. -Interaction takes place between the photons & absorbing atoms or molecules. -As a consequence, the power beam is weaken from P o to P -Hence , the transmittance(T) is the fraction of radiation transmitted by the medium: T= P/ P o Expression of transmittance in percentage: %T = P/P o X 100%
ii)Absorbance(A):
A = -log 10 T = log log P o /P
-With the decrease in transmittance, absorbance of the medium increases. Beers Law (Beer-Lamberts Law):
For a monochromatic radiation, absorbance is directly proportional to the path length(b) through the concentration (c) of the absorbing species.
A= abc -------(i)
Where, a is a proportionality constant called absorptivity. its magnitude depends upon the units used for b & c. -When c is in moles per liter & b is in centimeters, then then the absorptivity(a) is called molar absorptivity ( , epsilon)
-Then the equation i) becomes: A = bc ---------(ii) has a unit of L mol -1 cm -1 . -Beers law is the basis for quantitative analysis. -It is used in both atomic & molecular absorption measurements.
Macromolecular Microsymposium — 16: Main Lectures Presented at the Sixteenth Microsymposium on Macromolecules (Advances in Scattering Methods), Prague, 12 - 16 July 1976