Infrared relates to the radiation of electromagnetic spectrum with frequencies ranging from 300 gigahertz (GHz) to 400 terahertz (THz). Although not visible to the human eye, infrared light has many applications, including health treatments, heating, night vision cameras and weather forecasting. Infrared spectroscopy techniques are especially used in organic chemistry, to study molecular bonds through the levels of absorption of infrared light. All these techniques require the use of machine called spectrometer or spectrograph.
Remote Sensing Infrared
The development of remote sensing infrared techniques are useful to measure trace gases in the air. These techniques are based on adapted spectrometers containing a pump to circulate the air sample. The machine can analyze only one pollutant at time, and it is often used to monitor anesthetics in operating theaters, carbon monoxides in garages and formaldehyde in plastic and resin manufactures.
Attenuated Total Reflectance
Attenuated total reflectance is a technique often used in the paint industry for quality control and product improvement. It is also used to identify pigments in art restoration and forensics analysis. Titanium oxide is the most used pigment in the paint industry, but paint can also contain other chemicals such as calcium carbonate and lead oxide which can be detected with a spectrometer.
Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy
Two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy is a fast technique used to study the molecular structure of polystyrene and organic peptides, since different chemical functional groups respond to the infrared in distinct ways. This is also a recent technique for the study of proteins, membranes and DNA components.
Tags: infrared light, Infrared Spectroscopy, often used, paint industry, study molecular
