Analytical chemistry involves the separation,
identification and quantification of components of a
substance. In general, these operations are collectively referred to as analysis. It is possible to separate the
analyzes into two basic groups; these are qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis.
The qualitative analysis allows
identification of the components of the sample being studied.
Quantitative analysis gives the absolute quantities of these
components, or relative amounts relative to each other. In general, quantitative analysis follows
qualitative analysis.
Analytical chemistry has played a vital role in the progress of science. For this reason in 1894 William Ostwald used the following
sentences for analytical chemistry.
"It is the art of recognizing and identifying the compounds of analytical chemistry, which
occupies the most important place in the application of science,
because we are our greatest help when we overcome the problems that arise in chemical processes applied for scientific and technical purposes".
The determination of the amount of nitrogen in food is
important in determining the protein content and therefore the food value. In order to give the required properties (hardness, abrasion resistance, workability) to the steel, carbon, nickel and chromium analysis should be carried out during construction to bring the concentrations to appropriate values, which is an
application of analytical chemistry in steel making.
Modern farming requires the qualitative and
quantitative analysis of plant and soil to determine fertilization and irrigation times, an example of the use of analytical chemistry in agriculture. In order to determine the source of volcanic glass
(obsidian) in archeology, it is desirable to
determine the amount of trace elements in the samples studied. In principle, it is expected that the trace element concentrations of the volcanic glasses from the same source are the same.
Analytical processing
Apart from these two classical methods, there are analytical methods which are carried out using
increasingly developed instruments, which are
usually called instrumental methods (instrumental analysis methods).
Important instrumental methods, spectroscopic methods,
electroanalytical methods and extraction (extraction) methods.
Regardless of the method used, an analytical process involves
important steps. These are respectively as follows.
1- Choice of analysis method
An important point in the selection is the desired level of accuracy in the analysis to be performed.
Unfortunately, the higher the percentage of accuracy in the analysis, the greater the amount of investment
required for analysis.
Therefore, the method to be chosen should be such as to
provide a compromise between the desired accuracy and economy.
We can also classify analytical
methods with regard to the amount of analytes other than the group
we have given up. These are given in Table 1.1.
