Resumen de Determination of Wear Metals in Used Motor Oil by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
Julie A. Palkendo, Jessica Kovach, Thomas A. Betts
For decades, railways, trucking companies, and commercial airlines have utilized oil analysis as a diagnostic tool to prevent engine-component failures. This interesting application was developed into an undergraduate lab experiment to introduce chemistry and environmental science majors in their second to fourth year to metal analysis using flame atomic absorption spectroscopy with a non-aqueous sample matrix. Copper, lead, iron, chromium, and silver were quantified by the method of standard additions or by external calibration curves with matrix matching. Students in both environmental analysis and analytical chemistry courses used their data to assess the health of a vehicle’s engine.
