Introduction to Spectrochemical Methods

Spectroscopy: is the study of the interaction between matter and radiant energy.

Spectroscopic analytical methods are based on measuring the amount of radiation absorbed (absorption spectroscopy) or produced (emission spectroscopy) by molecular or atomic species of interest.

Spectrochemical methods provide the most widely used tools for the elucidation of molecular structure as well as the quantitative and qualitative determination of both inorganic and organic compounds.

Electromagnetic radiation is radiant energy having the properties of both particles and waves.

A particle of electromagnetic radiation is called a photon.

Because electromagnetic radiation has both particle-like and wave-like properties, it can be characterized by either:

Wavelength (Greek lambda; ??): the distance from one wave maximum to the next, it is generally measured in micrometers (?m; 10-6 m) or nanometers (nm; 10-9 m).
or
Frequency (Greek nu; ??): the number of waves that pass by a fixed point per unit time, usually given in reciprocal seconds (s-1), or hertz (Hz), 1 Hz = 1 s-1