DIRECT DETERMINATION OF SILVER IN AIR BY ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY

Silver-containing air streams are introduced in the primary air supply to the burner of an atomic absorption spectrometer for direct silver determination. The analytical method is calibrated by a filtration technique in which continuous silver-containing air streams are produced by passing air over heated silver iodide. The amounts of silver on the filters are determined by conventional methods of extraction and AAS solution analysis. The use of an integrating digital voltmeter to measure the spectrometer signal significantly enhances the readability of the relatively noisy absorptions associated with direct measurement. The detection limit is approximately 3 µg/m3 which is applicable to the direct determination of silver in air in the concentration range typical of certain weather modification activities. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.