DISCUSSION

Spectrophotometer it is used to measure the amount of light that passes

through a sample material and, by comparison to the initial intensity of light reaching
the sample, they indirectly measure the amount of light absorbed by that sample. In
this experiment, the spectrophotometer is used to determine the concentration of the
unknown copper(II) solution. The spectrophotometer cannot detect any solution than
contain too low concentration of the solution. The colour of the solution was very
important so that spectrophotometer can absorbed the light and convert into the value
of absorbance. The absorbance value helped to determine the concentration of the
unknown copper(II) solution.

Based on the experiment, standard Cu2+ solution and unknown sample solution
were prepared. At 645 nm of the wavelength, the absorbance of all the solution were
measured. The absorbance value increased due to the increased of the concentration
of the known solution. The concentration was determine through the calibration curve
absorbance versus the concentration. Based on the graph drawn, the gradient is 2.775
as the y-intercept is 0.066. The formula of the graph is written base on Y = mx + c.
the concentration was calculated through the formula; Y = 2.775x + c. The
absorbance of the first unknown solution in the test tube 5 is 0.082 and the
concentration is 0.0058 M. The absorbance of the second unknown solution in the test
tube 6 is 0.139 and the concentration is small which is 0.0263 M.

During the experiment, we found some errors that we made in

spectrophotometric measurements. Firstly, air bubbles in the cuvette. Microcuvettes
are particularly susceptible to collection of air bubbles in the sample beam
Particulates in the sample. Particulate matter in the sample will scatter light and result
in absorbance readings that are significantly higher than the true reading. Next is the
contaminating substances in diluents and incomplete mixing of samples which can
yield improper results. Lastly, the cuvettes were dirty. The cuvettes should be clean
on both the outside and the inside as it can affects the result.