application note - GBC Scientific

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AAS or ICP-OES Are They Competing Techniques?IntroductionThe analyst today is faced with a bewilderingchoice of techniques when deciding to enterthe field of elemental analysis. Should it beAtomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS),Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical EmissionSpectrometry (ICP-OES), InductivelyCoupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry(ICP-MS) or Inductively Coupled Plasma ArcSpark (ICP-AS)?One of the areas where the choice issupposedly most difficult to resolve concernsAAS and ICP-OES. When ICP-OES wasdeveloped in the mid-1970 s, the scientificpress read ICP is going to sweep AAS awayand take over as the only analytical techniqueworth considering for liquid samples .

With an inductively-coupled plasma source, the sample experiences temperatures estimated to be in the vicinity of 10000K. This results in atomization and excitation of

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