| Abstract: | Based on tin(II) chloride reduction in basic medium, a method of general use is proposed for the estimation of the whole gamut of multiple trace metals in natural waters by the atomic absorption method. The quantitative aspects of the method related to variables such as pH of the medium, amount of reductant and operational conditions are studied as a function of absorption sensitivity. The proposed method utilizes only a 50.0 ml portion of the water sample and yields above 90 per cent recoveries for various metals from a single aliquot of the sample. The reported data pertain to the estimation of silver, chromium, copper, iron, lead, mercury, manganese, magnesium, nickel and strontium, reported as averaged over replicate measurements at +-2S confidence level. The precision in individual cases is found to be better than +1.8%. |
