Analytical spectroscopy Three laws Analysis Commentary

Robert Bunsen, Gustav Kirchhoff chemistry

Analytical spectroscopy

Flame emission spectroscopy came before the Bunsen burner, but the Bunsen burner provided a cleaner, more consistent flame. Glue a sample to a platinum wire and stick it into the flame, heating the sample to glowing atoms, then pass their light through a defraction grating. Each element has a characteristic pattern of wavelengths, its spectrum, produced by their spectroscope. Bunsen and Kirchoff began to systematically correlate chemical elements and chemical compounds with their spectra linking absorption and emission lines, and establishing that spectroscopy can be used to analyze trace chemicals in a sample.

Three laws

1 You get a continuous spectrum from any incandescent material under high pressure. 2 You get an emission-line spectrum from a hot gas under low pressure. 3 You get an absorption-line spectrum from passing a continuous spectrum through a cool gas.

Analysis

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