Gravimetry volatilization

When thermal or chemical energy is used to remove a volatile species, we call the method volatilization gravimetry. In determining the moisture content of food, thermal energy vaporizes the H2O. The amount of carbon in an organic compound may be determined by using the chemical energy of combustion to convert C to CO2. 

A second approach to gravimetry is to thermally or chemically decompose a solid sample. The volatile products of the decomposition reaction may be trapped and weighed to provide quantitative information. Alternatively, the residue remaining when decomposition is complete may be weighed. In thermogravimetry, which is one form of volatilization gravimetry, the sample s mass is continuously monitored while the applied temperature is slowly increased. 

A form of volatilization gravimetry in which the change in a sample s mass is monitored while it is heated. 

In volatilization gravimetry, thermal or chemical energy is used to decompose the sample containing the analyte. The mass of residue remaining after decomposition, the mass of volatile products collected with a suitable trap, or a change in mass due to the loss of volatile material are all gravimetric measurements. 

Unlike precipitation gravimetry, which is rarely used as a standard method of analysis, gravimetric methods based on volatilization reactions continue to play an important role in chemical analysis. Several important examples are discussed in the following sections. 

Gravimetric methods based on precipitation or volatilization reactions require that the analyte, or some other species in the sample, participate in a chemical reaction producing a change in physical state. For example, in direct precipitation gravimetry, a soluble analyte is converted to an insoluble form that precipitates from solution. In some situations, however, the analyte is already present in a form that may be readily separated from its liquid, gas, or solid matrix. When such a separation is possible, the analyte s mass can be directly determined with an appropriate balance. In this section the application of particulate gravimetry is briefly considered. 

Constant rate thermo gravimetry has been described [134—137] for kinetic studies at low pressure. The furnace temperature, controlled by a sensor in the balance or a pressure gauge, is increased at such a rate as to maintain either a constant rate of mass loss or a constant low pressure of volatile products in the continuously evacuated reaction vessel. Such non-isothermal measurements have been used with success for decomposition processes the rates of which are sensitive to the prevailing pressure of products, e.g. of carbonates and hydrates. 

Thermal gravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) are useful techniques in the analysis of inclusion compounds. If we consider the desolvation of a host-guest compound with a volatile guest ... 

Gravimetry includes any analytical method in which the ultimate measure-nent is by weight. The simplest form may merely be the drying or heating of t sample in order to. determine its volatile and non-volatile components, or... 

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