Abstract
Metrological traceability of measurement results provides the comparability needed for reliable measurement in almost every aspect of our daily life, ranging from fundamental science, through health and safety to global trade. From the author’s (a physicist) perspective and understanding of recent literature, measurements in chemistry compare the “amount of analyte”, are often made “indirectly”, are sometimes “not fully traceable to the SI”, and metrological traceability is perhaps “not always the major concern of the practising analytical chemist”. The present article examines which of these views are typically “chemical”, and which are common to both the physicist and the chemist. Much can be gained by formulating a common understanding of basic concepts of traceability of measurement results in meeting ever-increasing demands for comparability of measurement results in both traditional as well as new areas of technology and societal concern.
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Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to Paul de Bièvre, Editor-in-Chief of Accreditation and Quality Assurance, for the invitation to write this article and to a fruitful collaboration with him and other members of the IUPAC Analytical Chemistry Division and IUPAC Working Party for Harmonisation of Quality Assurance.
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Based on a lecture given by the author at a mini-symposium “Emerging issues in metrology in chemistry” organised by the IUPAC Analytical Chemistry Division and IUPAC Working Party for Harmonisation of Quality Assurance at IAEA Headquarters, Vienna, 17th February 2004.
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Pendrill, L.R. Meeting future needs for metrological traceability—a physicist’s view. Accred Qual Assur 10, 133–139 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-004-0894-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-004-0894-y