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DESCRIPTION
5.3. PRECISION & ACCURACY
Precision is how closely repeated measurements are to one another. Precision is usually
expressed as standard deviation (SD).
Accuracy is defined as the closeness of a test result to the true value.
Although good precision suggests good accuracy, precise results can be inaccurate. The
figure explains these definitions.
5.4. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
Absorption of light is a typical phenomenon of interaction between electromagnetic
radiation and matter. When a light beam crosses a substance, some of the radiation
may be absorbed by atoms, molecules or crystal lattices. Photometric chemical analysis
is based on specific chemical reactions between a sample and reagent to produce a
light-absorbing compound.
If pure absorption occurs, the fraction of light absorbed depends both on the optical
path length through the matter and on the physical-chemical characteristics of the
substance according to the Lambert-Beer Law. If all other factors are constant, the
concentration "c" can be calculated form the absorbance of the substance.
Lambert-Beer Law:
-log
I/I
o
=
e
l
c d
or
A =
e
l
c d
I
o
= intensity of incident light beam
I
= intensity of light beam after absorption
e
l
= molar extinction coefficient at wavelength
l
c = molar concentration of the substance
d = optical path through the substance
