Beers Law

Worksheet & Examples

Beers Law Worksheet

Solutions

Absorbance

Experimental
(Measured at a FIXED Wavelength) Concentration

0.15

0.45

0.24M

0.96M

Solutions A,B & C contain the SAME chemical species but

with different concentrations.
(1) What is the experimental concentration for solution B?

(1) What is the experimental concentration for solution B?

Use direct proportionality (refer to next slide):

0.45
0.24M

0.15
= 0.72M

Concept of Direct Proportionality

For the SAME chemical species and fix wavelength:

Since L are the same under these conditions:

Solutions

Experimental
Absorbances

Standard
Concentrations

Standard A

0.25

0.3220M

Standard B

0.45

0.5802M

Standard C

0.58

0.7481M

Unknown

0.35

---------

Solutions A,B,C & the unknown contain the SAME chemical species but with
different concentrations.

What is a standard solution?

Standard Solution:
A standard solution has a precisely known concentration.
Standard solution concentration can be calculated
WITHOUT the use of Beers law:

M1 V1 = M2 V2
CONCEPT FROM GENERAL CHEMISTRY

Solutions

Experimental
Absorbances

Standard
Concentrations

(Measured at FIX Wavelength)

Standard A

0.25

0.3220M

Standard B

0.45

0.5802M

Standard C

0.58

0.7481M

Unknown

0.35

????

Solutions A,B,C & the unknown contain the SAME chemical species but with
different concentrations.
Suppose you were NOT given the molar absorptivity coefficient of the chemical
species, how do you find out the experimental concentration of an UNKNOWN
solution?

Beers Law Calibration Graph

(Requires a MINIMUM of THREE Standard Solutions)

Unknown Absorbanc e
= Concentration of Unknown
Slope

A=(L) C
y=(slope) x