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Absorbance Overview
Why Measure Absorbance?
Absorbance measurements are used for calculating concentrations of carotenoids
such as Fucoxanthin, a dominant pigment in diatoms, or Peridinin, a diagnostic
pigment of dinoflagellates. Absorbances are also used for calculating
concentrations of fluorescing pigments such as chlorophyll a, b, or c.
Other absorbance applications include the determination of chemicals/nutrients
in water systems (i.e.Nitrate, Silicate, Phosphate, Ammonium, etc).
What is Absorbance?
Absorbance is a measurement of light absorption by solid, liquid or gas.
The electrons of the atoms in the absorbing substance reduce the amount
of light being passed through that material. As the quantity of atoms
increases so does the reduction of photons being transmitted. Beer's Law
states that the amount of light transmitted by the sample is proportional
to the concentration of the absorbing species and the path length traveled
by the light.
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