Motivation
"Incheon Seunggi stream water quality improvement project begins in earnest amid odor complaints" (Yonhap News, 2023)
About 15 minutes away by car from my house resides an abandoned stream Seunggi. A 2023 news article said the government began cleaning the space, but was that an effective measure? In this research, I aim to investigate the phosphate level of soil samples collected near the stream using the Molybdenum Blue Reaction.
What is Molybdenum Blue Reaction?!
Long story short, the heptamolybdate reacts with phosphate to produce a complex that is, in turn, reduced by ascorbic acid in an acidic condition, expressing a blue color.
The absorbance of this blue color, measured by using a spectrophotometer at 882 nm, is directly proportional to the concentration of phosphate!
Standard Solution Curve
Prior to experimenting with the actual sample from Seunggi Stream, which consists of an unknown level of phosphate, I must create a "standard curve" with known levels of phosphate. This will help estimate the concentration based on the empirically measured absorbance of Seunggi Stream samples.
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