aas atomic absorption spectrophotometry

Atoms are most similar to the little blocks of material that form everything we can see and touch. They are too tiny for the human eye to see. Something smaller than a small dot – that is an atom! The AAS machine, kind of like an ultra-powerful magnifying glass, allows scientists to see how these unbelievably small parts make up our universe.

Here’s how the AAS machine works: Scientists provide a small sample of something they want to study. This can be a droplet of water, a grain of dirt, or even a small bit of graph. They placed this sample into the special machine. That's when the machine works its magic: the atoms in the sample light up. Then, it painstakingly examines how much light these atoms absorb or consume.