Name ____________________________________________
Date ___________________
Organic and Inorganic Chemical Analysis Test Review
1. What is the fundamental difference between organic and inorganic substances?
2. Describe the difference between a quantitative and a qualitative determination.
3. What are some considerations used when choosing the best analytical method for testing a particular
sample?
4. Name a couple of uses for atomic spectroscopy (AAS or AES) in the field of forensic science.
5. Briefly describe the basic chromatographic process. How is motion important to the process?
6. What three chromatographic processes are most used for solving analytical problems typically encountered
in the crime laboratory? What is the main advantage of each?
7. How would an investigator use an Rf factor or retention time to gather information regarding a sample?
8. What is electrophoresis and what is it most widely used for?
9. What is Beer’s law and why is it used in spectrophotometry?
10. What major advantage does infrared spectrophotometry have over ultraviolet spectrophotometry?
11. What are characteristics of light and how are they related to each other?
12. In what area does mass spectrometry currently have its greatest application for forensic scientists?
13. What causes an electron to move to a higher energy level? What happens when an electron returns to a
lower energy level?
14. What causes radioactivity?
15. What are the main weaknesses of neutron activation analysis?