THEORETICAL-STUDY OF THE SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION OF ATOMS SURROUNDING AN INDIVIDUAL SOLUTE PARTICLE VAPORIZING IN AN ANALYTICAL FLAME

A theoretical model is developed to describe the synergic effects of analyte vaporization and diffusion rates on the spatial distribution of analyte atoms in the vapor cloud surrounding an individual solute particle in a laminar flame or plasma. A mathematical convolution of the vaporization and diffusion processes is used to describe the analyte spatial distribution. Unfortunately, the resulting convolution integral cannot be solved In closed form for the experimentally observed vaporization function, and several simplifying approximations to the vaporization function are compared and shown to be useful. With this new model, the analytical consequences of changes in both diffusion coefficient and vaporization rate are examined, and the resulting changes in spatial distribution of atoms about a typical analyte particle are compared. © 1979, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.