MadSci Network: Engineering
Query:

Re: what techniques can I use to measure color in wastewater

Date: Sun Sep 16 20:22:02 2001
Posted By: Chris Cerrato, Staff, Compounding Dept., C. L. Hauthaway & Sons
Area of science: Engineering
ID: 995400833.Eg
Message:

There are a variety of techniques available, depending on exactly what you 
mean by "measuring color." The simplest is to use the APHA scale, which 
uses a set of 12 tubes that gradually get darker -- you fill a sample tube 
with the test water, and determine the number by comparison. This will 
give a result that is one-dimesional, and doesn't really care what 
particular shade it is, only the depth of shade. If you wish to determine 
a color value more specifically (i.e., whether it's green or blue or 
orange as well as depth of shade), there are two basic ways, both of which 
involve passing light through the sample and measuring it. The simplest 
would be using an adapter that allows a tube of a specific size to be 
placed in the light path; some electrospectrophotometers have that kind of 
adapter. Another way is to use a sample cell with a cap; the cap reflects 
the light back through the sample for measurement. In either case, you 
would have to establish some kind of scale to determine what parameters 
are important to you.


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