EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Conventionally, to analyze mercury in soils and sediments, the samples need to be digested in acid and are then analyzed us-ing either cold vapor atomic absorption spectroscopy (CVAA) or an ICP system.

Detailed explanation-2: -The method consists of the release of Hg by heating, followed by its quantification by atomic absorption spectrometry. It was developed by constructing calibration curves in different soil samples based on increasing volumes of standard Hg2+ solutions.

Detailed explanation-3: -Atomic absorption spectrometry using a cold vapor-generation technique has generally been used for the determination of low concentrations of mercury in solution. The detection limits of this technique are between 1 and 0.05 ng.

Detailed explanation-4: -Mercury in the digested water sample is reduced with stannous chloride to elemental mercury and measured by the conventional cold vapor atomic absorption technique.