TENTATIVE LISTING OF THE SENSITIVITIES AND DETECTION LIMITS OF THE MOST SENSITIVE ICP LINES AS DERIVED FROM THE FITTING OF EXPERIMENTAL-DATA FOR AN ARGON ICP TO THE INTENSITIES TABULATED FOR THE NBS COPPER-ARC

This Communication links up with a previous Communication dealing with a system for general survey analysis using an argon ICP, a spectrograph and a computerized microphotometer. The previously communicated empirical relationships between sensitivities in the argon ICP and intensities in the NBS copper arc have been used to compute the relative ICP sensitivities of 453 'persistent' lines of 71 elements. The combination of these results with data about the 'true' relative intensity distribution of the background and the approximately constant relative standard deviation (1%) of the background signal established for this ICP yielded detection limits for those spectral lines that are located in the wavelength range between about 230 and 680 nm. The various results are presented in a table that lists for each element: the wavelengths of the 'most sensitive' lines (with stage of ionization of the corresponding species), the NBS intensities, the ICP sensitivities and the detection limits. The blank ICP spectrum (0.05 M HCI in doubly-dionized water) was also analyzed in the spectral windows of 378 analysis lines located in the wavelength region between 230 and 480 nm. Significant blanks were found for some 20 lines and the results are stated in terms of blank equivalent concentrations and the minimum enhancement of the detection limit. The paper includes a table with data about the relative distribution of the background intensity in the ICP considered. © 1979.