Ji.

ESTIMATION OF IRON BY SPECTKUl'HUTUIVU, I KY

E).'.pt. No. :
Date:
t •·
-I
I
I
AIM

To estimate the amount 0 f .

I
iron present in the given sample by spectrophotometry. \
PRINCIPLE:

According to Beer-Lambert' . . \
. s 1aw the intensity of a beam of monochromatic light decreases
exponentially as the concentration 0 f h . .
t e absorbing substance in solution and the thickness of the cell
increases independently. It is written th •
ma emat1cally as
\
A = log:~ --~ £er ~. ~ -c ··-1-
where

10 _ - Intensity of incident light.

l 1 - Intensity of transmitted light.

C - Concentration of the solution.

T - Thickness of the cell.

E- Molar absorption coefficient.

A - Absorbance.

In an experiment absorbance is proportional to the concentration of the solution alone since the
same cell is used throughout the experiment and hence thickness is kept constant.

Absorbance of iron as such cannot be measured using visible spectrophotometer since it is a

colourless solution. But it ( Fe 3+ - Ferric state) produce~d colour when it reacts with potassium
thiocyanate which is in the blue region ofthe.spectrum(1..=~nm)

Fe 3 ++6SCN
Re d colour complex

63
 s. No. Concentration (M)

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64
r
pRocEDURE:

Stock solution of [ (
Fe SCN)aJ3- (100ml) is prepared by adding potassium thiocyanate Cl O ml),
foll owed by 6 ml of 4 M nit · .
. nc acid to a Fe3+ solution (80 ml) and made up to 100 ml. From the stock
solution, different concentr t' [
a ions of Fe (SCN)6 )3- are prepared ( 0.1M,0.2M,0.3M,0.4M,0.5M)

?Bl
Concentration of Iro (+ 3 state) 1s
. determined spectrophotometrically by measunng
. the absorbance

°f [Fe (scN ·)a )

3- at A=~ nm . The instrument
. . the sample
is warmed up for 15 min. Cut off filter m
co~ment is kept at position no 4 for the wave length range 390 - 630 nm and the wavelength is fixed
at nm for measuring the absorbance . The cuvettes are inserted in the cell holder such that optically
~olished surface faces the photocell. Both the cuvettes are rinsed with distilled water and filled with
distilled water in one of the cuvettes (Blanck) and the other one is filled with [Fe (SCN)6 ]3- By keeping
the instrument in the transmittance mode, the intensity of the incident light is fixed at 100 using distilled
water as the sample solution (for which absorbance is zero). After that the mode is changed to absorption
and the absorbance of Fe 3+ solution is measured by keeping [Fe (SCN)6 ] 3 - solution as the sample .
Similarly the absorbance is measured for different known concentrations oflron and unknown solution
as well. Then the absorbance values are plotted against the concentration of Iron. The concentration of
unknown solution is determined by extrapolating the absorbance value in the calibration graph .

Result :

The amount of Iron present in the given solution= g

.,l

67