- Staff Contact: Taylor Broek (415) 847-4258 or Guangchao Li (510) 996-8007
- General: The elemental analyzer is available to all members of the Stanford community. This is a user run instrument. Before signing up, users must complete a training session on the instrument and be certified by a facility technician. Once certified, users planning to run samples must sign up on the EA Scheduler.
- Operation: The elemental analyzer is available for use by certified users Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm.
- Cost: For charge rate information click here.
- Samples: Soils and plant material (or other compounds) should be ground to a powder for best results. Samples are then weighed into a tin capsule and carefully folded into a tight ball; commonly referred to as foil balls. The most common sized tin purchased for this instrument is a 5 x 9 mm tin which is item #041077 available from CostechAnalyticalTechnologies,Inc., or NC9155294/NC9437183 on SmartMart. I also have tins available in EMF that you can buy by adding time to your run. Sample size varies with plants generally between 4 and 12mg, and soils between 8 and 30mg. Because of the small mass involved, duplicates are often run, especially with less homogeneous samples. Due to the small orifice of the sampler on this instrument, we have found time and time again that it is not well suited for combustion of filter paper samples. Foil balls should fit easily in a 96 well plate. Please note that at this time the instrument is configured to run N and C only.
- Standards: Results are based on the detection response of a chemical with know nitrogen and carbon content (available at EM-1). During a run, a chemical, NIST standard material or previously run samples are run as a check.
- Detection Limits: 0.01%
If you have any questions making your standard, please contact Doug Turner (678-6454). Data: You can get more detailed information by checking out our FAQ |