The UV/VIS absorption spectrum shown here is the spectrum of holmium oxide (from

Question

The UV/VIS absorption spectrum shown here is the spectrum of holmium oxide (from Starna Cells, www.starna.com, with permission). It is a rare earth oxide and is available in high purity.

(a) Qualitatively, what differences do you see between this spectrum and the spectrum of an organic molecule such as pyridine? Why do you think they are different in appearance?

(b) Consider the spectrum. Think of how you might us hlimium oxide to check on the operation of your UV/VIS spectrometer. What could you check?

Explanation / Answer

a) Usually organic molecules like pyridine will show broad peaks in the UV-Vis spectrum and also less number of transitions will occur. But in this one (holmium oxide UV-Vis spectrum), we are seeing very sharp peaks almost throughout the UV-Vis range.

b) The compound which has very sharp peaks are useful for validating the UV-Vis spectrometer. Because very small deviation from the usual spectrum will can be identified easily. Wavelength accuracy is normally assessed by using Holmium oxide sample.

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