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Determination of magnesium, manganese and zinc in plant by Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) (CAT#: STEM-ST-0171-WXH)

Introduction

Metal analysis of plants is an essential feature of environmental, biological and chemical research. Metals in plants display biological activity as essential or toxic agents, hence being important to establish their normal concentration range and evaluate their role as part of the food chain. On the other hand, contamination processes of medicinal, aromatic and seasoning plants from heavy metals, although representing a small part of the diet, is part of their quality control.




Principle

Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) detects elements in either liquid or solid samples through the application of characteristic wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation from a light source.
Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) is based upon the principle that free atoms in the ground state can absorb light of a certain wavelength. Absorption for each element is specific, no other elements absorb this wavelength.

Applications

Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) is an easy, high-throughput, and inexpensive technology used primarily to analyze elements in solution. As such, AAS is used in food and beverage, water, clinical research, and pharmaceutical analysis.

Procedure

1. Creating a steady state of freely dissociated ground state atoms using a heat source (flame)
2. Passing light of a specific wavelength through the flame. The wavelength corresponds to the amount of energy required to excite an electron from (typically) the ground to first excited state for a specific element.
3. Measuring the amount of the light absorbed by the atoms as they move to the excited state (the atomic absorption).
4. Using the measured absorbance to calculate the concentration of the element in a solution, based on a calibration graph.

Materials

• Spectrometer
• Radiation sources
• Atomizers
• Atomic absorption
• Spectrophotometer