Light, matter, and the color of money
One of the primary goals of this site
is to help people who might benefit from FT-IR air monitoring
technology to understand how it works. We know that
potential users visiting our site - people like environmental
scientists, chemical engineers, industrial process and regulatory
managers, and concerned citizens - come here with various levels
of technical understanding. The following pages will
attempt to provide a foundation for understanding the FT-IR air
monitoring technique by explaining just the "FT-IR"
part: how it works (light and matter) and why anybody should care
( the color of money).
Unfortunately, FT-IR is not an easy
thing to explain in just a few paragraphs - indeed, volumes of
scientific literature on the subject can be found. We've
tried to keep our explanation of FT-IR as short and simple as
possible. Nonetheless, we expect this page to seriously test the
patience of any curious browsers who may have stumbled onto our
site. If you're looking for a non-rigorous introduction to
FT-IR that is not too awfully long, we encourage you to keep
reading. Be aware, however, that you are entering a realm
created and inhabited by the type of people who actually enjoyed
their high school physics and chemistry courses. A
lot.
We'll start in a sort of a backwards
fashion, explaining the "IR" part of FT-IR first.
In the course of explaining what IR is and how it can be used as
an analytical technique, we'll also introduce and explain
spectroscopy in a general sense and infrared absorption
spectroscopy in particular. Understanding the significance
of the "FT" part will then be a little easier. If
you'll follow the links below, we'll get started!
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