atomic absorption spectrometry

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atomic absorption spectrometry Instrumental technique for the chemical analysis of material. The basic theory was known as long ago as the mid-nineteenth century, and utilizes the observation that certain wavelengths of radiation emitted by excited atoms are strongly absorbed by unexcited atoms of the same element (emission spectrum). The radiation will be reduced if it passes through an area containing such unexcited atoms. This reduction can be measured by a detector, and gives the concentration of the element.