A1: How does a color meter work?
Q1: Color meters rely on the concept of the Beer-Lambert law, which assumes that the absorbance of a substance is proportional to its concentration. For example, the higher the concentration of a solution, the higher the absorbance reading. Many chemical and biological experiments are based on this concept. To obtain a Beer's law curve, several standards (solutions of known concentration) are prepared and their absorbance values are determined using a colorimeter.
A2: What is colorimetry?
Q2: A colorimeter is a device that measures light absorbance (how much light is absorbed) and light transmission (how much light passes through) in a liquid by analyzing the intensity of the color.
A3: What are the limitations of a color meter?
Q3: One limitation of chemical color meters is that differences in certain substances may lead to inaccurate test results. According to Global Water Instrumentation, because these differences are different for each substance, a chemical colorimeter alone is not a completely foolproof testing device.
Tips: What does the LAB in a colorimeter mean?
L, A, and B on a colorimeter are chromaticity values representing the color of an object, i.e. the color space coordinates of a color. Any color has a unique coordinate value, where L stands for luminance (black and white), and A stands for red and green. B stands for yellow and blue. Using a colorimeter, the three groups of data L, a, and b, and the colorimetric △E, △L, △a, and △b color difference data are generally output. △E total color difference, △L+ means bright, △L- means dark, △a+ means reddish, △a- means greenish, △b+ means yellowish and △b- means blueish.