Understanding the Analytical Laboratory

Modern laboratories face enormously complex qualitative and quantitative analytical problems in their daily work. Using various analytical techniques, they routinely identify and quantify hundreds of organic and inorganic analytes in an assortment of environmental matrices while adhering to the requirements of specific QA/QC protocols. All too often, the perceived validity of obtained data is based on the observance of these specific requirements, whereas the actual validity of the data depends only on solid qualitative and quantitative analysis and on the adherence to standard analytical laboratory QA/QC protocols. 

To fully appreciate the intricacies of analytical laboratory work, one must spend many years performing various laboratory functions and tasks. In fact, a full service analytical laboratory is such a complex organization that even some of the laboratory personnel may not fully understand the relationships between different laboratory functions or production units. 

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