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Chemistry LibreTexts

1: Introduction to Analytical Chemistry

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Chemistry is the study of matter, including its composition and structure, its physical properties, and its reactivity. There are many ways to study chemistry, but, we traditionally divide it into five fields: organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, biochemistry, physical chemistry, and analytical chemistry. Although this division is historical and, perhaps, arbitrary—as witnessed by current interest in interdisciplinary areas such as bioanalytical chemistry and organometallic chemistry—these five fields remain the simplest division spanning the discipline of chemistry.

  • 1.1: What is Analytical Chemistry?
    Analytical chemistry is too broad and too active a discipline for us to define completely.  This description is misleading. In this chapter we will try to say a little about what analytical chemistry is, as well as a little about what analytical chemistry is not. Analytical chemistry is often described as the area of chemistry responsible for characterizing the composition of matter, both qualitatively (Is there any lead in this sample?) and quantitatively (How much lead is in this sample?).
  • 1.2: The Analytical Perspective
    Many analytical chemists describe this perspective as an analytical approach to solving problems. Although there are probably as many descriptions of the analytical approach as there are analytical chemists, it is convenient for our purpose to define it as the five-step process.
  • 1.3: Common Analytical Problems
    This is the scope of a qualitative analysis is to identify what is present in a sample. Perhaps the most common analytical problem is a quantitative analysis.
  • 1.E: Introduction to Analytical Chemistry (Exercises)
    These are homework exercises to accompany "Chapter 1: Introduction to Analytical Chemistry" from Harvey's "Analytical Chemistry 2.0" Textmap.
  • 1.S: Introduction to Analytical Chemistry (Summary)
    This is a summary to accompany "Chapter 1: Introduction to Analytical Chemistry" from Harvey's "Analytical Chemistry 2.0" Textmap.

Thumbnail: Several graduated cylinders of various thickness and heights with white side markings in front of a large beaker. They are all filled about halfway with red or blue chemical compounds. The blue ink is showing signs of Brownian motion when dissolving into water. Image used with permission (CC BY-SA 3.0; Horia Varlan from Bucharest, Romania).


1: Introduction to Analytical Chemistry is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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