Analytical Chem istry - DePauw University

DRAFTChapter 8Gravimetric MethodsChapter Overview8A Overview of Gravimetric Methods8B Precipitation Gravimetry8C Volatilization Gravimetry8D Particulate Gravimetry8E Key Terms8F Chapter Summary8G Problems8H Solutions to Practice ExercisesGravimetry includes all analytical methods in which the analytical signal is a measurementof mass or a change in mass. When you step on a scale after exercising you are making, in asense, a gravimetric determination of your mass. Mass is the most fundamental of all analyticalmeasurements, and gravimetry is unquestionably our oldest quantitative analytical technique.The publication in 1540 of Vannoccio Biringuccio’s Pirotechnia is an early example of applyinggravimetry—although not yet known by this name—to the analysis of metals and ores. 1Although gravimetry no longer is the most important analytical method, it continues to finduse in specialized applications.1 Smith, C. S.; Gnodi, M. T. translation of Biringuccio, V. Pirotechnia, MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1959.Copyright: David Harvey, 2009355