Infrared spectroscopy is a method that relies on the vibrations of a molecule's atoms. It involves passing infrared radiation through a sample and analyzing how much of the radiation is absorbed at a specific wavelength. This creates an infrared spectrum which shows different characteristics for each specific sample, the samples infrared “fingerprint”.
One practical application of infrared spectroscopy is non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) gas measurement, which originated in the late 1930s in the United States. NDIR gas measurement focuses on detecting certain gases by identifying their specific absorption wavelengths in the infrared spectrum. This technology is particularly useful for identifying air pollutants emitted from various sources, such as carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), nitrous oxide (N2O), ammonia (NH3), hydrogen chloride (HCl), hydrogen fluoride (HF), methane (CH4), and more.
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