Analytical Chemistry

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excessive amounts of a material to be identified. Most chemical
methods of qualitative analysis require a very small amount of the sample.
Advance instrumental techniques often use less than one millionth of a gram. An
example of this is mass spectrometry.
Quantitative chemical analysis is used to determine the amounts of
constituents. Most work in analytical chemistry is quantitative. It is also
the most difficult. In principle the analysis is simple. One measures the
amount of sample. In practice, however, the analysis is often complicated by
interferences among sample constituents and chemical separations are necessary
to isolate tthe analyte or remove interfering constituents.
The choice of method depends on a number of factors: Speed, Cost,
Accuracy, Convenience, Available equipment, Number of samples, Size of sample,
Nature of sample, and Expected concentration. Because these factors are
interrelated any final choice of analytical method involves compromises and ...

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