AN ATOMIC ABSORPTION METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF LEAD IN AIR By

Air pollution is increasing because of world-wide urbanization and con-tinually increasing industrialization. The quantitative and qualitath-e com-position of the contaminants present in the air depends on the degree and type of industrialization. The air of great cities contains Cu, Fe, Pb, il'In, Zn in high percentages, while Ba, Bi, Cd. Cl', Ni. Sn. Ti and V in smaller amounts. [1] From among the elements mentioncd, especially Bi and Ph are dangerous for the human organism. Thereforp the knowledge of their amount in the air is of great importance. In recent years several papers have heen published on the determination of lead as a contaminant of air. PINES and SCRWA:.'iECKE [2] [3] used colorimetric methods for the determination of lead in air. BLFUER [4] suggested a complexometric method, Jl;?\GREIS and \\TEST [5] a ring-ovcnmethod, while SCIARAFFA and ZIEGLER [6] developed aT: X-ruy fluorescence method. Atomic ah!3orption methods haye been deyeloped by seyeral authors for the same purposc. Japanese researchers, ISHIr and MesHA [7] injected the air sample contc.ining lead directly into the flame of the atomic absorption apparatus. The atomic absorption methods deYeloped by DE;\ " TOl';KELAAR Pt al. [8], further hy DELL,\, FIORE:.'iTI:.'iA [9] and Bl;RNILUI et al. [10] as,reil as by KAFFE:.'iKE [11] differ mainly in the way of sampling. Flameles5 atomic ahsorption e,,~citation,,-as applied hy,VOODRIFF and LEcH [12] as well as by LOFTI:.'i and CHRISTIA:.'i [13]. PURDUE et al. [14] meas-ured the Pb content of air samples after enrichment by extraction. We also developed an atomic absorption method for the determination of lead in air, and the data from sampling at a busy spot of Budapest are published below. Reagents 1. Strong nitric acid solution of analytical grade 2. Strong hydrogene peroxide solutio