Development of didactic experiments for teaching the principles of atomic spectrometry: flame photometry

Author(s)

Fabiano Okumura

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Carlos.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Química de São Carlos (IQSC/BT)
• Defense date: 2004-08-16

Examining board members

Eder Tadeu Gomes Cavalheiro; Patricia Alexandra Antunes; Joaquim de Araujo Nobrega

• Advisor: Eder Tadeu Gomes Cavalheiro

Abstract

The present work deals with the development of laboratory experiments directed to the teaching of principies of atomic spectroscopy based in flame atomic spectrometry using a flame photometer. The use of samples of the quotidian of the students was exploited since such strategy proved to be efficient in catching the attention of the students to the teaching subject. The flame atomic emission spectrometry was chosen since it is a very simple technique associated to the low cost of the instrumentation , allowing its use even in schools with limited budgets for assembling a didactic laboratory for instrumental analysis. The experiments were classified in three categories: experiments with no need of sample preparation; experiments comparing the results with and without sample preparation and experiments in which other analytical technique is for sample preparation. A set of ten experiments is proposed. The samples containing lithium, sodium and/or potassium and/or calcium, were natural water, pharmaceutical formulations, food and beverages, and can be used in courses of pharmacy, engineering, chemistry, etc.. Results have shown a wide application range of the proposed experiments and a test with volunteer students showed that it was well accepted and expected results were presented. (AU)