A flowing stream of gas (hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, etc.) required to produce
volatile species of the elements being determined, is passed over the
test sample in a heated furnace. The analytes leave the furnace in the gas stream, or are entrained
by a
carrier gas. The analytes in the gas stream may be collected in an absorbing solution, on a carbon
or other
filter or by condensation on a cool surface. In the case of mercury this can also be done
by amalgamation with a noble metal. The analytes may then be swept and released from
the trap, by heating, into a sampling source for analysis.
Source:
PAC, 1988, 60, 1461
(Nomenclature, symbols, units and their usage in spectrochemical analysis-X. Preparation
of materials for analytical atomic spectroscopy and other related techniques (Recommendations
1988))
on page 1470