Isotopes and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. Computer Simulations,Part I: Evaluation of the Simulation Model Using the Flame Atomic Absorption Determination of Lithium Isotope Abundances

An evaluation of a computer model developed to calculate absorbances involving multi-isotopic elements is presented. With the use of the model, an independently performed flame atomic absorption experiment to determine isotope abundances of lithium is simulated. The necessity of having accurate values of the critical model parameters (damping constant, isotope shift, fine structure separation, and collisional shift) is demonstrated. The ability of the model to reveal experimental relationships which would be difficult to observe unless the experiments were performed with extreme care is shown. Further, the potential of the model to simulate isotope effects in AAS and its use as an aid in the evaluation of experimental results are demonstrated.