University of Bahrain

Collage of Engineering

Department of Chemical Engineering

CHEMY 313

Flame photometry

Done by: Esmaeel yaseen Mohammed

Id number: 20178311

Sec. 1
Aim:-

1. The aim of this experiment is to determine the concentration of sodium

and potassium in drinking water and tap water using flame photometer.

Introduction:-
Photoelectric flame photometry, a branch of atomic spectroscopy is used for inorganic
chemical analysis for determining the concentration of certain metal ions such as
sodium, potassium, lithium, calcium, Cesium, etc. In flame photometry the species
(metal ions) used in the spectrum are in the form of atoms. The International Union of
Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Committee on Spectroscopic Nomenclature has
recommended it as flame atomic emission spectrometry (FAES). The basis of flame
photometric working is that, the species of alkali metals (Group 1) and alkaline earth
metals (Group II) metals are dissociated due to the thermal energy provided by the
flame source. Due to this thermal excitation, some of the atoms are excited to a higher
energy level where they are not stable.

Flame photometry is a traditional and simple method for determining sodium and potassium in
biological fluids involves the technique of emission flame photometry. This relies on the principle
that an alkali metal salt drawn into a non-luminous flame will ionize, absorb energy from the flame
and then emit light of a characteristic wavelength as the excited atoms decay to the unexcited
ground state. The intensity of emission is proportional to the concentration of the element in the
solution. You are probably familiar with the fact that if you sprinkle table salt (NaCl) into a gas
flame then it glows bright orange (KCl gives a purple color). This is the basic principle of flame
photometry. A photocell detects the emitted light and converts it to a voltage, which can be
recorded. Since Na+ and K+ emit light of different wavelengths (colors), by using appropriate
colored filters the emission due to Na+ and K+ (and hence their concentrations) can be specifically
measured in the same sample. One drawback of flame photometers, however, is that they respond
linearly to ion concentrations over a rather narrow concentration range so suitable dilutions usually
have to be prepared.
Chemical and Glassware:
 Flame Photometer.
 Cuvette.
 Gas Cylinder.
 Beaker.
 Standard flask.
 Graduated pipette.
 Wash bottle

Procedure:

1. Prepare standards of sodium, 10ml, 20ml, 40 ml and 50ml in 250 ml volumetric flasks
and unknown solution.
2. Choose the optimum emission wavelength in the device (flame photometer).
3. Measure the intensity for each unknown solution and determine the concentration of
unknown solution.
4. Prepare standards of potassium, 2.5ml, 5ml, 7ml, and 10ml in 250 ml volumetric flasks
and unknown solution.
5. Choose the optimum emission wavelength in the device (flame photometer).
6. Measure the intensity for each unknown solution and determine the concentration of
unknown solution.
Data Result and Calculation:-
For sodium:
Concentration of Intensity of emitted
sodium standard radiation
sample Intensity of
solutions (ppm)
emitted
0.0 0.0
radiation
10.0 20.0
Sample 1 30.0
20.0 45.0
Sample 2 35.0
40.0 78.0
50.0 100.0

con. vs ER
120
100 y = 1.9698x + 1.3256
80 R² = 0.9962
ER

60
40
20
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
con.

Using the equation from graph:

y=1.9698x+1.3256 , where sample 1=30

30=1.9698x+1.3256

x=14.55 ppm

Concentration of the sample 1= x =14.55 ppm

Where sample 2 =35

35=1.9698x+1.3256

x=17.1 ppm

Concentration of the sample 2= x =17.1 ppm

For potassium:
Concentration of Intensity of emitted
potassium standard radiation
sample Intensity of
solutions (ppm)
emitted
0.0 0.0 radiation
2.50 25.0 Sample 1 30.0
5.0 48.0 Sample 2 70.0
7.0 73.0
10.0 100.0

con. vs ER
120
100 y = 10.101x - 0.2965
80 R² = 0.998
60
ER

40
20
0
-20 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
con.

Using the equation from graph:

y=10.101x - 0.2965 , where sample 1=30

30=10.101x - 0.2965

x=2.99 ppm

Concentration of the sample 1= x =2.99 ppm

Where sample 2 =70

70=10.101x - 0.2965

x=6.95 ppm

Concentration of the sample 2= x =6.95 ppm

Discussion:

In this experiment, the intensity of Sodium and potassium solution and unknown solution
were measured using the flame emission spectrophotometry. A graph was plotted using the
results. The equation was found from the graph and used to determine the concentration of
the unknown solution by substituting the intensity of the unknown into the equation. At the
end, the concentration of the unknown solution for sodium was found to be equal to
14.55 ppm for sample1 and 17.1 ppm for sample 2, and for potassium the unknown
solutions was found to be 2.99 ppm for sample1 and 6.95 ppm for sample 2.

Conclusion:

There are some kind of errors that might occur in this experiment and affect the results,
such as; human error by having a scale reading mistake while filling the pipettes. And,
systematic error if the device isn’t calibrated.

Reference:

 Internet web:
1- http://vlab.amrita.edu/?sub=2&brch=193&sim=1351&cnt=1
2- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoelectric_flame_photometer

 Doctor material in the teams.