Uses of spectrophotometer?

Question

how can the specrophotometer be used in the determination of enzymatic activity and also to diagnose a disease?

Answer 1

My use of a multilength spectrophotometer is to help differentiate between dyshemoglobins ... such as carboxyhemoglobin (carbon monoxide poisoning), methemoglobinemia (chemical change to Hgb), and sulfhemoglobinemia (same laundry list of causative factors as methb)

Answer 2

In physics, spectrophotometry is the quantitative study of electromagnetic spectra. It is more specific than the general term electromagnetic spectroscopy in that spectrophotometry deals with visible light, near-ultraviolet, and near-infrared. Also, the term does not cover time-resolved spectroscopic techniques.

Spectrophotometry involves the use of a spectrophotometer. A spectrophotometer is a photometer (a device for measuring light intensity) that can measure intensity as a function of the color, or more specifically, the wavelength of light. There are many kinds of spectrophotometers. Among the most important distinctions used to classify them are the wavelengths they work with, the measurement techniques they use, how they acquire a spectrum, and the sources of intensity variation they are designed to measure. Other important features of spectrophotometers include the spectral bandwidth and linear range.

Perhaps the most common application of spectrophotometers is the measurement of light absorption, but they can be designed to measure diffuse or specular reflectance. Strictly, even the emission half of a luminescence instrument is a kind of spectrophotometer.

The use of spectrophotometers is not limited to studies in physics. They are also commonly used in other scientific fields such as chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology.

to know more about this go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrophot...

itis explainedwith picture

hope this helped you :)

Answer 3

Spectrophotometers measure the absorbance of light at a given wavelength by a sample. So if you had an assay in which the spectral properties of your sample were to change with a given enzymatic activity or the presence of a chemical known to be a marker for a specific disease, you could then measure the sample in the spec and compare to the appropriate negative and positive controls.

These days, these sorts of things are all done with commercially available kits. The spectrophotometer is simply used to give a numeric readout of the change in the spectral property of the samples.

Answer 4

Arg I hated that Lab, sorry I vowed to never touch or talk about a spectrophotometer again.

Answer 5

It measures Turbidity (cloudiness).  The lower the percentage, the higher the bacteria count, as it's all comparitive. i.e., 82% is worse than 89%. It just, simply, measures how clear the sample is.