**Section 1**

**Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy** 

**1** 

*Spain* 

**Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy:** 

Isabel Idoate-Cervantes3 and Jesús Fernando Escanero4

*3Navarra Hospital Complex, Clinical Laboratory, Pamplona* 

*Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Zaragoza* 

*4University of Zaragoza, Faculty of Medicine,* 

**Fundamentals and Applications in Medicine** 

José Manuel González-López1, Elena María González-Romarís2,

*1Miguel Servet University Hospital, Clinical Biochemistry Service, Zaragoza 2Galician Health Service, Clinical Laboratory, Santiago de Compostela* 

Spectroscopy measures and interprets phenomena of absorption, dispersion or emission of electromagnetic radiation that occur in atoms, molecules and other chemical species. Absorption or emission is related to the energy state changes of the interacting chemical species which characterise them, which is why spectroscopy may be used in qualitative and

The application of spectroscopy to chemical analysis means considering electromagnetic radiation as being made up of discrete particles or quanta called photons which move at the speed of light. The energy of the photon is related to the wavelength and the frequency by Plank's constant (h = 6.62 x 10-34 J second) and the speed of light in a vacuum (c = 3 x 108

E = hν = hc/ λ The interaction of radiation with matter is produced throughout the electromagnetic spectrum which ranges from cosmic rays with wavelengths of 10-9 nm to radio waves with lengths over 1000 Km. Between both extremes, and from the shortest upwards, can be found the following: gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet rays (far, mid and near), the visible portion of the spectrum, infrared rays and radio microwaves. All radiations are of the same nature and travel at the speed of light, being differentiated by the frequency, wavelength and the effects

The Bouguer-Lambert-Beer Law is fundamental in molecular absorption spectrophotometry. According to this law, absorbance is directly proportional to the trajectory of the radiation through the solution and to the concentration of the sample producing the absorption although there are limitations to its application. The Law is only applied to monochromatic radiation although it has been demonstrated experimentally that

the deviations with polychromatic light are unappreciable (Skoog & West, 1984).

m/s) according to the following equation (Skoog et al., 2001):

they produce on matter (Skoog et al., 2008).

**1. Introduction** 

quantitative analysis.
