Applications of d.c. argon plasma emission spectroscopy to saline waters: a study of enhancement effects

Abstract A commercially available d.c. argon plasma emission spectrometer was used to determine transition metals (3d and 4d) and also Be in salt and brackish water. The effects of salinity on the enhancement of emission intensities of the analyte lines were studied using an empirical approach combined with statistical analysis. One set of experiments deals with the effects of trace metal concentration and salinity on the relative emission intensities of 14 elements using a completely randomized experimental design, i.e. the sequence in which the 48 treatment combinations (12 levels of salinity and 4 levels of metal concentration) were measured was determined by randomization, with the results evaluated by an analysis of variance program. The second set deals with the effect of relative enhancement to salinity on selected ion and atom emission line pairs for various elements at 100 and 50% salinity relative to fresh water (0% salinity). These results are analyzed by a stepwise linear multiple regression analysis program using selected parameters of theoretical interest. It was discovered that the differences in relative enhancement for ion—atom emission line pairs for 100% salinity could be predicted basically with two variables. A coefficient of determination of 95% was achieved by employing the energy of transition for the atomic line and the number of unpaired d-electrons in the lower atomic state.