Selecting a Method; Figures of Merit
Mary Kate DonaisLevelBasic
Selecting a Method and Figures of Merit
Selecting a Method; Figures of Merit (Video)
Aspects to consider when selecting an analytical method. Brief discussion of figures of merit.the powerpoint as pdf.
Exercises
Selecting a Method and Figures of Merit1) You work for a pharmaceutical company in their quality control lab. Your boss hands you a bottle of 100 pills of product off the assembly line and asks you to quantify its active ingredient.
a. What considerations will go into your choice of analytical method?
b. How would these considerations differ if instead you were handed a soil sample and asked whether it was contaminated with lead?
2) All analytical methods can be characterized by their “figures of merit”. List as many of these quantities as time allows and describe what each means. Provide relevant equations or calculations where appropriate. Which figures of merit would be easy to determine for your class experiments?
3) Find a journal article describing a quantitative analytical method. On a printout of the article highlight the figures of merit reported by the researcher(s). Where were the figures of merit reported in the article?
