Instrumental Methods

Instrumental Methods

Machines can analyse unknown substances:

• Used for medical purposes, police forensic work, environmental analysis, checking whether an athlete has taken drugs...
• Advances in electronics and computing have made more advanced analysis possible

Advantages:

• Can be operated by technicians whereas lab methods need trained chemists
• More accurate than lab methods and can detect the tiniest amounts of substances
• Much faster than lab methods and tests can be automated

Disadvantages:

• Very expensive to buy, run and maintain the machines

Atomic absorption spectroscopy:

• A bit like a flame test machine, used for indentifying metals
• Patterns of light absorbed by the metals in the sample are analysed - each metal produces a different…