The topic of instrumentation is linked to different fields of chemistry.
- 1. Instrumentation is used to determine chemical and physical properties. Spectra provide information about bonding, molecular vibrations and rotations, and electronic energy levels. Spectral information is used to elucidate molecular structure. Instrumentation can also be used for quantitative analysis.
- Forensic chemistry utilizes instrumentation to a large degree for both substance identification and to determine the concentrations of various substances in the bodies of victims of crime or a person suspected of committing a crime. It is widely used in the investigation of illegal drugs, alcohol, and other life-threatening toxic substances (see Forensic Chemistry module).
- Many industrial, governmental, and private laboratories use instrumentation to test samples for a great number of different substances. These laboratories incorporate instrumentation such as plasma spectrometry, flame emission and flame absorption spectrometry, laser spectrometry, NMR spectrometry, mass spectrometry, and others. Medical labs use CAT-scans and MRI instrumentation extensively. Industrial chemistry uses instrumentation in quality control and monitoring of reaction streams as well as in batch and continuous processes in the manufacture of substances.
Since the distinction between chemistry and other disciplines, including the arts and social sciences, is rapidly disappearing, the links between chemical uses of instrumentation and uses in other disciplines is rather broad. Medicine, in particular, makes wide use of instrumentation in microbiology, histology, and pharmacology. Art and archaeology use instrumentation in preservation, conservation, restoration, documentation of art treasures, dating techniques, examination of prehistoric objects, etc. Virtually every subdiscipline of chemistry, biology, physics, and earth science uses some form of instrumentation.
