A More Pedagogically Sound Treatment of Beer's Law: A Derivation Based on a Corpuscular-Probability Model

William D. Bare
Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4319
J. Chem. Educ., 2000, 77 (7), p 929
DOI: 10.1021/ed077p929
Publication Date (Web): July 1, 2000

Abstract

An argument is presented which suggests that the commonly seen calculus-based derivations of Beer's law may not be adequately useful to students and may in fact contribute to widely held misconceptions about the interaction of light with absorbing samples. For this reason, an alternative derivation of Beer's law based on a corpuscular model and the laws of probability is presented. Unlike many previously reported derivations, that presented here does not require the use of calculus, nor does it require the assumption of absorption properties in an infinitesimally thin film. The corpuscular-probability model and its accompanying derivation of Beer's law are believed to comprise a more pedagogically effective presentation than those presented previously.

Keywords (Audience):

Upper-Division Undergraduate

Keywords (Domain):

Analytical Chemistry

Keywords (Pedagogy):

Textbooks / Reference Books

Keywords (Subject):

Quantitative Analysis
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  • Received: August 03, 2009

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