Beer-Lambert Law
Definition
The Beer-Lambert law relates the absorption of light by a substance to its concentration in solution and path length through which it travels.
Analogy
Imagine you're trying to look through a crowd at a concert. The more people there are (concentration) and the further away you're standing (path length), the harder it will be for you to see (more light gets absorbed).
Related terms
Absorbance: This refers to how much light a substance absorbs at a particular wavelength.
Transmittance: This refers to how much light passes through an object without being absorbed.
Concentration: In chemistry, this term describes how much solute is dissolved in solvent.
"Beer-Lambert Law" appears in:
Study guides (2)
Practice Questions (5)
According to the Beer-Lambert law, as absorbance _______, the concentration of a species _______.
For which concentration is the Beer-Lambert law least accurate?
The linearity of the Beer-Lambert law is affected by the following conditions:
Derive the units of the molar absorption coefficient in the Beer-Lambert law given that the units of concentration are M and the units for the path length are cm.
Beer-Lambert law is not applicable if _____.
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