The Big Guy
sean at best.com
Sat Aug 12 12:01:56 EST 1995
Regarding :colormetric chemical analysis.
What exactly is the difference between how specific and/or sensitive a method
My understanding is a specific test will only detect a specific say chemical due to
a specific color endpoint. A sensitive test can be specific for that chemical but
also sensitive or give similar results for other substances that react in the same
way as the chemical the test is specific for.
For example: Is the colormetric analysis of phenolphthalein by alkalination with
NaOH specific only for phenolphthalein? Even though it is sensitive for
phenolphthalein's reaction of turning pink-red when alkalined with NaOH ,is it
still specific for phenolphalein if it is sensitive in the fact that other substances
can react with NaOH and the resulting color is very simliar to phenolphthalein's
Thanks for the help ahead of time!
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