A spectrophotometer is a laboratory instrument used to measure the intensity of light as a function of its wavelength. It works by passing a beam of light through a sample and measuring the intensity of the light that exits the sample. By measuring the amount of light absorbed by the sample, the spectrophotometer can determine the concentration of the substance in the sample that absorbs the light.
Spectrophotometers are commonly used in various fields, including chemistry, biochemistry, and environmental science. They can be used to measure the concentration of a particular substance in a sample, identify unknown substances by comparing their spectra to those of known substances, and study the absorption spectra of various substances.
There are different types of spectrophotometers available, including single-beam, double-beam, and micro spectrophotometers. Single-beam spectrophotometers use a single light beam, while double-beam spectrophotometers use two beams – one to pass through the sample and the other as a reference. Microspectrophotometers are used for analyzing small samples and are commonly used in the field of biology.
Spectrophotometers can be used for various applications, such as the analysis of proteins, DNA, and RNA in biochemistry, the measurement of air pollution levels in environmental science, and the identification of compounds in chemical analysis.