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Concepts in analytical chemistry

  • Chapter
A Handbook of Silicate Rock Analysis

Abstract

The analytical chemistry of silicate rocks and minerals takes in a diverse range of techniques employing a wide variety of physical phenomena. Although the concepts on which many of these techniques are based appear to have little in common, a degree of uniformity does embrace each in terms of the underlying analytical principles. Thus the desired goal is to measure a signal related to the concentration of an elemental constituent of a sample. This analyte signal invariably possesses a background component, the magnitude of which usually limits the lowest concentration that can be satisfactorily analysed (the detection limit). The precision with which the signal can be measured depends on a variety of factors, both fundamental and instrumental in origin. These could include counting statistical errors, signal to background ratios, instrumental noise, drift and sensitivity. All techniques suffer interference effects and, in some, account must be taken of blank and contamination levels. It is generally necessary to prove the accuracy of measurements by the comparative analysis of international rock reference materials.

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  1. Research Fellow in Earth Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

    P. J. Potts

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Potts, P.J. (1987). Concepts in analytical chemistry. In: A Handbook of Silicate Rock Analysis. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-3988-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-3988-3_1

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