An inexpensive, portable tungsten coil atomic absorption spectrometer will be designed, constructed, and evaluated. This device will be a combination of a reliable tungsten coil atomizer, a miniature spectrometer/detector combination mounted on a PC card, and a near-line background correction method. The instrument will be powered by a normal 12 volt car battery connected through a car's cigarette lighter, and controlled with a laptop computer. The detection of toxic chemicals in the environment is extremely important. The proposed device will be attractive to a wide variety of laboratories that are dedicated to the detection of these chemicals and perform trace metal determinations regularly.
