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10:3 Contamina(on from the Analyst and Apparatus

Contamina(on from the analyst: Tips for the Analyst

• Keep the volume of reagents to a minimum. • Keep sample prepara4on and measurement 4mes to a minimum (use 4mers and don't let a digestate sit overnight or even during a lunch break). • Keep a history of beakers and other apparatus as to chemical exposure. • Exercise care in handling reagents (exposure to atmosphere or pouring liquid back into the same container or into the wrong container can result in serious contamina4on). • Disposable powder-free gloves prevent contamina4on from earlier exposures as opposed to reusable gloves (vinyl is beCer for difficult manipula4ons such as pipe4ng and handling wet glassware while latex is more rugged). • Disposable laboratory coats prevent contamina4on from earlier exposures. • Disposable foot coverings keep any dirt that the ‘s4cky mat' missed contained. • NOTE: Dangerous opera4ons require appropriate laboratory clothing REGARDLESS of the poten4al for contamina4on.

10:4 Contamination from the Analyst and Apparatus

Apparatus Contamina.on:

• Another poten*al source of contamina*on is caused by the apparatus that comes into contact with the sample. • Careful planning is required by the analyst as to the type of apparatus that comes into contact with a par*cular trace metals analysis. • All apparatus should be specified in the procedure along with any cleaning procedures or special precau*ons. • Although the type and degree of contamina*on that occurs when using certain apparatus can be predicted, the importance of one or more blanks with every prepara*on should be apparent from the following table.