The objectives of this experiment are to determine the concentration and percent weight of total

mercury in animal tissue sample using calibration curve method. The sample used in this
experiment was prepared by wet digestion method. This method involves the chemical
degradation of matrices in solution, usually with the combination of acids to increase the
solubility of the sample. In this experiment, the solution used to dissolve the sample are nitric
acid and hydrogen peroxide solution. In this experiment, calibration curve method was used to
determine the concentration of mercury in sample by comparing the unknown to a set of
standard samples of known concentration. The advantages of this method are the calibration
curve provides a reliable way to calculate the uncertainty of the concentration calculated from
the calibration curve and provides data on an empirical relationship.

Based on the graph plotted between the concentration and absorbance, the equation for the
standard solution is y= 0.012x + 0.0012. The graph shows a straight line passing all the points
showing the accurate reading. From this equation, the unknown concentration for the sample
can be determined. From the calculation, the concentration for sample A is 4.785 ppm, sample
B is 6.726 ppm and for sample C the concentration obtained is 4.320 ppm. The mean
concentration for this triplicates sample is 0.26385 ppm. This value falls within the safe amount
of mercury to be consumed by humans. By referring to EPA, safe level of mercury to be
consumed should be lies between 0.5 ppm to 1.0 ppm. From the concentration of this sample,
the percent weight of total mercury also can be determined. After doing calculation, the percent
weight of total mercury in the sample is 0.00213%. From this experiment, we can conclude
that the mercury analyser instrument can analyse mercury better compared to AAS.

RESULT :
RESULT

Properties Concentration (ppb) Absorbance

Blank 0.0 0.0000

Standard 1 2.0 0.0292

Standard 2 4.0 0.0480

Standard 3 6.0 0.0720

Standard 4 8.0 0.0920

Standard 5 10.0 0.1249