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Atomic Spectroscopy: Theory of Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS)
Atomic Spectroscopy: Theory of Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS)
Atomic Spectroscopy: Theory of Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS)
: 06 Atomic Spectroscopy
Module Id 02
Pre-requisites
measurement of the concentration of elements present in the sample through their property of
absorption of light. The technique is simple and reliable based on absorption of radiation by
free atoms for their determination. AAS is the oldest instrumental elemental analysis
principle, the origins of which go back to the work of Bunsen and Kirchhoff in the mid-19th
atom and thus its pros and cons can be well understood from
energy. These orbits were described as energy levels which differ in energy from each other.
Each orbit has a fixed energy associated with it, in general an electron has lowest energy in
its ground level, and higher energy in its excited state, and can be easily removed. When the
associated electron of an atom is in its ground state, the atom is said to be in the ground
state. Normally, electrons try to stay in the lowest energy level open to them, but these
electrons in its ground state can absorb energy in discrete amounts of heat or light at certain
discrete wavelengths, corresponding to the energy requirements of the particular atom. This
absorption of light, heat or collision with another particle results in the increased energy of an
The electron tends to remain in its permitted energy levels but may change to another level if
the amount of energy absorbed is equal to the difference between the two levels. When the
electron moves to the higher energy level, such as E1, it is said to be excited. Each atom has
quantized energy levels depending upon the number of protons and electrons present. Each
element has a unique set of energy levels pertaining to the unique set of electrons and
protons. It is these energies which are measured in relation to the ground state, and a
On the other hand every element has characteristic spacing between the energy levels that is
proportional to wavelength of the absorbed light. For example the shorter wavelength of light
energy will be absorbed if the spacing between the energy levels is wider
Atomic spectra
Each orbital in an atom is characterized by principle and azimuthal quantum numbers n and l,
respectively corresponding to the electron's energy and angular momentum. When an electron
undergoes a transition from a higher energy level (E2) to a lower energy level (E1), light of
frequency
ν = (E1 - E2)/h = ∆E/h
The latter is most frequently used in atomic absorption spectroscopy. For a given electronic
transition the parameters ∆E, ν and λ have unique values. An element can go many electronic
transitions and the transition between electronic energy states is characterized by a their
different in energy and hence different atoms will absorb at different set of wavelengths.
These are the characteristic wavelengths which will emit an element in the process of being at
a higher energy level and relaxing to the ground state. When a range of wavelength is
surveyed a sharp energy maximum is shown by each wavelength (a spectroscopic 'line') and
these lines characteristic to atom and are basis of distinguished atomic spectra. The lines
originating from the ground state of the atomare called resonance lines and are the most
sensitive and useful analytical lines for atomic absorption spectroscopy. Non-resonance lines
are from the transitions of one excited state to another excited state when empty orbitals are
analysis.
Excited state
This technique can be used for qualitative
levels which are slightly different in their energies. This is called splitting which results due
to interaction of magnetic field generated from the spin and orbital moment. The same can
occur in d and f orbital’s but the energy difference between the levels is too small to be
observed. The splitting of higher energy p, d, f orbitals into two states is characteristic of all
That is why energy level diagram of Mg+ is similar to that of Na, but the energy difference
between 3s and 3p state in Mg is roughly twice than that of Na which may be because of
large nuclear charge of the Mg. Dipositive atoms have similar kind of energy level diagram.
However, as the size of atom increases that means the number of electrons in the valance
shell also increases, lead to complicated atomic spectra and difficult to understand
The Grotrian (term) diagram is usually used to illustrate the spectral transitions and emission
of an atom. The term diagram of sodium is given in Fig 4, and it is clear from it that the
common atomizers used in AAS do not generate sufficient thermal energy to cause excitation
a larger number of atoms. According to the selection rules all lines occurring in the
absorption spectrum corresponds to the valence electron of 3 2S1/2 term which arise from
3 2S1/2 ----→ 3
2
P1/2;3/2 (589.593nm/588.966nm)
3 2S1/2 ----→ 4
2
P1/2;3/2 (330.294/nm330.234nm)
3 2S1/2 ----→ n
2
P1/2;3/2
These lines are called also resonance lines which emerge from the ground state of the neutral
atom and in absorption measurements are the most commonly used analytical line.
In case of sodium atoms, a strong absorption at 589.0 nm is because this wavelength of light
possesses the exact amount of energy to excite the sodium atom to another higher state.
Therefore this transition of electrons is very specific for sodium and different atoms have
different energy requirements hence do not absorb light at this wavelength. The sodium ion
which is in the excited state by absorbing energy is still sodium atom but with more energy.
Depending upon the number of electrons and protons each atom has quantized energy levels.
That is each element has a set of energy levels which is unique pertaining to the unique set of
electrons and protons? The energies are usually measured in relation to the ground state of
an atom to its particular excited state, for example, sodium atom has 2.2 eV more energy in
its excited state than in a ground state which, by convention is arbitrarily set at zero.
decreases regularly towards the short wavelength of the main series, till the convergence limit
is reached. Beyond this value no more lines are observed, only the continuous spectrum is
observed. The total stripping of the valence electrons from the shell of the sodium atom
corresponds to this convergence limit in the spectrum which represents the energy of
ionization for this atom. A different characteristic spectrum of sodium ion is resulted from the
changed electronic structure. From the term diagram, the relatively simple relationships that
can be deduced which indicate the absorption spectra have comparatively few lines and are
thus clear.
Fig 5: Spectra of sodium (a) absorption (b) emission (Adopted from Atomic Absorption
Spectrometry by Welz and Sperling)
Line width is important in AAS, as narrow lines are highly desirable because they reduce the
possibility of interference due to overlapping spectra. The atomic absorption spectra arises
from transition between two quantum states. Since the energy difference between the two
states is definite, the atomic absorption spectra should have thin lines with small or zero line
width. But on careful observation and examination the lines were found to have finite width
(which is also in accordance to Heisenberg principle of uncertainty). The lines are generally
made up of asymmetric distribution of wavelengths (λs) that center about a mean wavelength
association with λ0 is equal to energy difference between quantum state responsible for
absorption or emission.
Line width of an atomic absorption is defined as its with is λ units when measured at half the
maxima.For example the spectral lines discussed up to now do not have an exactly defined
There are number of mechanisms which can broaden the absorption or emission line in its
frequency distribution, because of the fact that an emitting or absorbing atom are not two
Lorentzian + Gaussian
The natural line width is the minimum possible half-width. An excited atom can typically
stay for about 10-9 to 10 -8s in an excited state before it loses the excess energy as a photon to
Fig.7: Natural broadening line as a result of the broadened energy levels of the transition.
1 1
∆νN = ν20 ( + )
𝜏𝑘 𝜏𝑓
2π
Where ν0 is the frequency of the line, τk relaxation time of the excited state, and τf relaxation
in case of transition from excited state to a stable ground state (resonance line), as the ground
state is stable. The half width for the alkaline-earth metals from strontium to beryllium is in
The Doppler Effect was named after the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler who proposed
this effect in 1842. According to this effect when a source of wave approaches, passes and
recedes from the observer, the observed frequency is higher as compared to the emitted
frequency when source approaches observer, identical when passing by and lower when
recedes from observer. Doppler broadening of spectral lines is an important effect in the line
broadening in AAS due to the Doppler Effect. Similarly higher frequency radiation is
encountered by the atoms moving towards the light source than atoms moving away from the
source. The rapid motion of atoms results in Doppler broadening as they absorb or emit
radiation. The wavelengths of radiations from atoms moving at right angles to the detector
are slightly larger than the wavelengths of radiations from atoms moving towards the
detector. This difference is a manifestation of the well-known Doppler shift; whereas the
effect is reversed in case of atoms moving away from the detector. The net effect is an
increase in the width of the emission line. The broadening of absorption lines is also caused
by Doppler Effect for precisely the same reason. Since the effect is related to motion of atoms
the effect of flame temperature is pronounced due to increased rate of motion of the atoms.
Pressure Broadening:
The collision between the atoms causes the pressure broadening that result in slight variation
in ground state energies of atoms and in the energy differences between ground and excited
states. With increases in temperature the pressure broadening becomes greater as a result;
broader peaks of absorption and emission are always encountered at elevated temperatures.
The collision of the emitting particles with other particle interrupts the emission process, and by
shortening the characteristic time for the process, increases the uncertainty in the energy emitted
(as occurs in natural broadening). The effect depends on both temperature and density of the gas.
The shapes of the peak are often approximately Lorentzian, i.e.
A photon can be absorbed by an atom of the same species in a ground state which is emitted
by an atom in a radiation source, if the emitted radiation emerges from a resonance line.
This kind of absorption is seen in between identical species and is limited to lines with the
upper or lower level having an electric dipole transition (resonance line) to the ground state.
Where λ is the wavelength of the observed line, fr and λr are the oscillator strength and
wavelength of the resonance line; gk and gi are the statistical weights of its upper and lower
levels. Ni is the ground state number density.
This also holds for atoms with sufficiently populated low lying excited states. This
radiation. However the region of an optically dense medium will hardly be reached in the
absorption volume as we deal with trace quantities of the analyte in analytical AAS.
A convolution product of all broadening mechanisms is the total observed line broadening of
any spectral line. The half widths can be calculated as simple addition products if the various
each other. However in reality these processes are correlated and cannot be considered
In general the overall broadening is a mixture of Lorentz and Doppler broadenings. This is
known as the Voigt Profile. TheDoppler-like behavior in Voigt profile is shown by the line
Fig.8: A comparison of Doppler and Lorentz line shapes. (Adopted from Absorption Line
Physics)
In conclusion:
Voigt profile→Together
The concentration of an element in a solution can be measured with the help of absorbance
values and this relation between absorption of light and concentration of analyte is given by
Beer-Lambert law:
Lambert's Law states that the quantity of light absorbed is independent of the intensity of
the incident light by a transparent medium and each successive unit thickness of the medium
A Beer’s Law state that the amount of light absorbed is proportional to the number of
absorbing species present in the sample. Thus in the atomizer of Atomic absorption, it means
concentration '2c’
Concentration
the type of burners used for example if an air/acetylene burner is used the path length will be
concentration versus absorbance is drawn Beer's Law predicts that a straight line will result
(fig. 10). But the same is not observed in practice, deviations from the linear calibration, have
been reported especially at higher concentrations due to several factors like spectral effects or
instrumental design.
In atomic absorption another significant issue is the time of residence of atoms in the path of
light in the instrument. Usually greater absorbances are associated with longer residence
times.
atomization
atomic absorption spectroscopy. At higher end of the concentration range, the graph generally
bends towards the concentration axis. However curved calibration graph can be obtained
throughout the whole working range but the frequency is very less. The Beer- Lambert law is
Absorbance
Absorbance
Absorbance
B Concentration Concentration
Concentration C
Figure A: shows "upward curvature" the graph curves towards the absorbance axis. This
Absorbance
Figure B: Shows the graph curving towards the concentration axis. As the concentration
increases the graph tends to become parallel to the concentration axis. This "asymptotic” graph
means that above a certain concentration value the absorbance does not increase at all.
Figure C is a special variation of Figure B, above a certain concentration the graph does not
Concentration
Concentration
become parallel but curves back towards the concentration axis. This "roll-over" behavior means
that two different concentrations can give the same absorbance.
Absorbance
Concentration
A number of researchers have the postulated the reasons for the bending of curves. However
the two common causes of this deviation were given by de Galan and Samaey. One from the
failure of slit and monochromator system to prevent multiple, closed-spaced lines from
reaching the detector. If the absorption coefficient lines falling on the detector are different
The emission source must have line width narrower than the absorption line width. If this is
not the case, a nonlinear relation between absorbance and concentration will occur. The use
of excessive lamp currents is the greatest cause of line broadening, in good hollow-cathode
lamps.
Often multiples in absorption or emission lines have been resolved by the monochromator of
an AA spectrometer. But splitting of the emission line due to interactions between the
electrons and the nucleus cannot be resolved. This interaction generates a number of
transitions with very similar but distinct energy differences so that an emission line consists
of a number of component lines very close together a structure called as hyperfine structure
monochromator cannot resolve them. This in effect results in broadening of emission line and
contributes to curvature. Also, each HFS component may have different absorption
coefficient and thereby gives rise to more curvature. Example of such effect is curved
emission lines the lines are called "ordinary lines". For example Te line 225.9 nm. Whereas if
the HFS components so close together that they cannot be resolved in the emission lines,
these lines are termed as "quasi-ordinary lines". An example is the 213.9 nm Zn line.
Some Spectrophotometers are fitted with Zeeman Effect background correction systems in
such case curvature of calibration graph and reflex curvature. The Zeeman Effect is given by
splitting of atomic spectral lines in the presence of a magnetic field. In simple Zeeman Effect
2 sigma and one pi component is observed in the splitting of emission line. Around the
while as pi component remains at its original wavelength. These components are polarized–
the pi component is linearly parallel to the applied magnetic field while as the sigma
components are circularly polarized perpendicular to the applied magnetic field. To remove
the pi components of the transmitted radiation a polarizer is positioned in the optical system.
The Zeeman effect is used to reduce the background interference which is either caused by
non- specific absorption arising from light scattering caused by solid particles or liquid
droplets in the atomizing cell, or by the presence of undissociated molecules of matrix that
have broadband absorption spectra. This back ground absorption is compensated usually by
Summary:
The topic discusses about the concept of atomic spectra and how spectra’s are generated from
molecules, what type of spectra are produced. It also helps to understand how important is
selection of spectral lines and how to do that. What affects the spectral lines and how
broadening of lines happen. It also describes the relationship between the absorption by an