Republic of the Philippines

SOUTHERN LEYTE STATE UNIVERSITY –

HINUNANGAN CAMPUS
Hinunangan, Southern Leyte 6608

Exercise No. 3
Sampling

Introduction
A chemical analysis is most often performed on only a small fraction of the material of
interest, for example a few milliliters of water from a polluted lake. The composition of this
fraction must reflect as closely as possible the average composition of the bulk of the material if
the results are to be meaningful. The process by which a representative fraction is acquired is
termed sampling. Often, sampling is the most difficult step in the entire analytical process and the
step that limits the accuracy of the procedure. This statement is especially true when the material
to be analyzed is a large and inhomogeneous liquid, such as a lake, or an inhomogeneous solid,
such as an ore, a soil, or a piece of animal tissue.
Sampling for a chemical analysis necessarily requires the use of statistics because
conclusions will be drawn about a much larger amount of material from the analysis of a small
laboratory sample.
The sampling process must ensure that the items chosen are representative of the bulk of
material or population. The items chosen for analysis are often called sampling units or sampling
increments. For example, our population might be 100 coins, and we might wish to know the
average concentration of lead in the collection of coins. Our sample is to be composed of 5 coins.
Each coin is a sampling unit or increment. In the statistical sense, the sample corresponds to several
small parts taken from different parts of the bulk material. To avoid confusion, chemists usually
call the collection of sampling units or increments, the gross sample. For analysis in the
laboratory, the gross sample is usually reduced in size and homogenized to create the laboratory
sample.
Objectives:
To illustrate the use of statistics in sampling; and
To introduce some basic concepts of statistical analysis in data treatment
Materials:
25 pcs of one (1) peso coin ( same year), analytical balance
Method
From the combined 25 pcs of coins, assign each coin to a specific number from 1 to 25.
Select 5 pcs for each group by random selection (via excel). Determine the mass of each coin using
an analytical balance. Calculate the mean, standard deviation and % RSD, absolute and relative
error of the mass of the coins.
%RSD = (SD/mean)* 100 Absolute error, E = xi – xt Relative error, Er = (xi – xt) / xt ) *
100
Reference:
Skoog, D.A., West, D.M., Holler, F.J., Crouch, S.R. 2016. Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry,
9th edition. Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd., Taguig City, Philippines.