smaerd - 1-6-2015 at 18:14
Hey all, I know I've been kind of hammering the board with threads about building basic analytical instruments and the likes. I was wondering though
about the utility of refractometers?
I have limited experience with these instruments, such as measuring the concentration of single component ionic solutions. The more I think about it
the more I realize that in a home lab, I'm often looking for changes. Not absolute characterization.
I guess what I'm asking is, would this be as useful of a project as I think it might be?
I can see a refractometer being used for:
- Isocratic elution of chromatography columns, IE: detecting analytes without TLC.
- concentration/quantitation of compounds
- in some cases (limited) for characterization/purity assessment
- basic kinetics experiments
What made me think of it is there is a lot of inquiry about electrochemical cells IE: chlorate synthesis and this seems like a way to not "fly blind".
Looking for some community input.