Spectrophotometer Essay

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Spectrophotometer Spectrophotometry is the quantity based study of electromagnetic spectra. A spectrophotometer measures either the amount of light reflected from a sample object or the amount of light that is absorbed by the sample object. It is a photometer that can measure intensity as a function of the light source wavelength. Important features of spectrophotometers are spectral bandwidth and linear range of absorption or reflectance measurement. Principle: The basic principle is that each compound absorbs or transmits light over a certain range of wavelength. Depending on the range of wavelength of light source, it can be classified into two different types: * UV-visible spectrophotometer: uses light over the ultraviolet range (185 - 400 nm) and visible range (400 - 700 nm) of electromagnetic radiation spectrum. * IR spectrophotometer: uses light over the infrared range (700 - 15000 nm) of electromagnetic radiation spectrum. Applications: Spectrophotometry has many clinical, food and feedstuff, and research and pharmaceutical uses. * Spectrophotometry is one of the most useful methods of quantitative analysis in various fields such as chemistry, physics, biochemistry, material and chemical engineering and clinical applications. * Spectrophotometer is commonly used for the measurement of transmittance or reflectance of solutions, transparent or opaque solids, such as polished glass, or gases. * They can also be designed to measure the diffusivity on any of the listed light ranges that usually cover around 200nm - 2500nm using different controls and calibrations. Within these ranges of light, calibrations are needed on the machine using standards that vary in type depending on the wavelength of the photometric determination. * They are widely used in many industries including semiconductors, laser and optical manufacturing,
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