A1: How does a colorimeter work?
Q1: Colorimeters 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 colorimeter?
Q3: One limitation of chemical colorimeters 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: The working principle of pocket colorimeter
Pocket colorimeter determines the color parameters of a sample by detecting its spectral composition, which not only gives the absolute values of X, Y, and Z and the color difference delta E, but also gives the spectral reflectance value of the object and yields the color spectral reflectance curve of the object. Therefore, it is widely used for color matching and color analysis.
High-precision color difference measurement can be achieved using a spectrometer, and a photoelectric integral colorimeter can be calibrated to establish colorimetric standards. Therefore, the spectrometer is the authoritative instrument for color measurement. There are two types of measurement observation: "0/45 degree" and "d/8 degree integrating sphere", where "0/45 degree" means that the light source is directed from a 45° angle and the 0° angle is used for color difference measurement. Can only be used to measure smooth surfaces, and can not be used for computer color matching. d / 8 degrees sphere can be used to measure a variety of surfaces, and can be used for computer color matching.