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6: Atomic Emission Spectroscopy

  • Page ID
    401478
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    • 6.1: Overview of Spectroscopy
      The focus of this chapter is on the interaction of ultraviolet, visible, and infrared radiation with matter. Because these techniques use optical materials to disperse and focus the radiation, they often are identified as optical spectroscopies. For convenience we will use the simpler term spectroscopy in place of optical spectroscopy; however, you should understand we will consider only a limited piece of what is a much broader area of analytical techniques.
    • 6.2: Emission Spectroscopy
      An analyte in an excited state possesses an energy, \(E_2\), that is greater than its energy when it is in a lower energy state, \(E_1\). When the analyte returns to its lower energy state, the excess energy, \(\Delta E = E_2 - E_1\), is released as a photon, a process called emission.
    • 6.3: Atomic Emission Spectroscopy
      The focus of this section is on the emission of ultraviolet and visible radiation following the thermal excitation of atoms. Atomic emission occurs when a valence electron in a higher energy atomic orbital returns to a lower energy atomic orbital.


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