Why absorbance and transmittance

Too many people take their ability to see for granted. Our eyes send messages to our brains to interpret an image a certain way. One thing our eyes must interpret is the amount of light an object transmits or absorbs. This brief article will explain the difference between absorbance and transmittance and describe its real-life applications. Absorbance is the amount of light that is taken in as it passes through an object.

Absorbance is extremely difficult to measure because its value is almost always less than 1. There are many instances where absorbance is applicable in real life. For example, people living in hot climates should never paint their walls dark colors because it will absorb all the light and heat, and their homes will become much warmer. Transmittance vs. However, if we calculate the corresponding absorbance values and then plot a graph of absorbance vs.

Absorbance vs. If the gradient of this graph is , then from Beer-Lambert law we have,. Then we can calculate the value of using the length through which light has travelled. Once we have calculated , we can use it to measure concentrations of unknown solutions of the substance using the same setup i. In labs, a spectrophotometer can be used to measure the absorbance of light by a sample. A Spectrophotometer. About the Author: Nipun.

Absorbance vs Transmittance. Absorbance and transmittance are two very important concepts discussed in spectrometry and analytical chemistry.

Absorbance can be identified as the amount of light which is absorbed by a given sample. Transmittance can be recognized as the amount of light passed through that sample. Both of these concepts are very important in fields such as analytical chemistry, spectrometry, quantitative and qualitative analysis, physics and various other fields.

It is vital to have a proper understanding in the concepts of absorbance and transmittance in order to excel in such fields. In this article, we are going to discuss what are absorbance and transmittance, their definitions, the applications of absorbance and transmittance, the similarities between these two, the connection between absorbance and transmittance, and finally the difference between absorbance and transmittance.

In order to understand the concept of absorbance, one must first understand the absorption spectrum. An atom consists of a nucleus, which is made of protons and neutrons, and electrons that are orbiting around the nucleus.