CHEMICAL ENGINEERING OBJECTIVE TYPE

QUESTIONS: A COMPILATION

DR. LEONARDO C. MEDINA, JR.

DEAN, COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
LYCEUM OF THE PHILIPPINES UNIVERSITY

ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY

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1. The hydrogen or deuterium discharge tube can be used as a source of continuous ultraviolet radiation
for spectrophotometers because of
a. the characteristics of chopper-modulated radiation
b. pressure broadening of hydrogen or deuterium emission lines
c. the great sensitivity of photomultiplier tube
d. the narrow band pass of modern grating of monochromators
2. Chopping the source beam in conjunction with the use of a tuned ac amplifier in an atomic absorption
spectrophotometer accomplishes the following
a. a recording potentiometer can be used instead of a voltmeter for the readout
b. a less sensitive detector can be used instead of the usual photomultiplier tube
c. a cooler can be used without decreasing the population of ground-state atoms
d. radiation emitted by excited atoms in the flame will not interfere with the absorbance
measurement
3. Line spectra are emitted by
a. hot solids
b. excited polyatomic molecules

c. molecules in the ground electronic state

d. excited atoms and monatomic ions

4. Recording spectrophotometers sometimes operate with feedback loops that vary the power of the
reference beam until it matches the power of the beam through the sample. This mode of operation
a.
b.
c.
d.

eliminates the need for a continuous source

requires two monochromators
eliminates the need for nonabsorbing solvents
makes the detector a null device, with the result that nonlinear response to radiant power would not
be deleterious

5. Which of the following best explains why atomic absorption is sometimes more sensitive than flame
emission spectroscopy?
a. At the temperature of a typical flame, the population of ground-state atoms is much greater than the
population of excited atoms.
b. Detectors employed in absorption work are inherently more sensitive than those used to measure emission.
c. Hollow cathode discharge tubes have a much greater radiant power output than do ordinary flames.
d. An absorption line in a flame is always much sharper than an emission line because of the Doppler effect.

6. The method of standard addition compensates for matrix effects provided

a. the addition does not dilute the sample appreciably and does not itself introduce appreciable
quantities or interfering substances
b. the addition dilutes the sample enough that the concentrations of interfering substances are lowered to
negligible values
c. the addition contains none of the substance being determined
d. the addition contains a large enough quantity of some substance to swamp out sample variations

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7. Fe3+ and Cu2+ form complexes with EDTA. The ferric complex is colorless , as is Fe 3+ itself, at the
concentration involved here: the copper complex is a deep blue color (deeper than the color of Cu 2+
itself), while EDTA is colorless. The photometric titration curve below was obtained when a solution
containing both Fe3+ and Cu2+ was titrated with EDTA using a spectrophotometer set at a wavelength
of 745 nm in the visible region of the spectrum.

B
A

a.
b.
c.
d.

ml of EDTA solution
A is the iron end point.
B is the iron end point
The distance from A to B on the milliliter axis represents the quantity of iron
The quantity of iron could not be calculated from a graph like this unless the quantity of copper
in the solution was known ahead of time

8. In chromatography, a substance for which the distribution of the coefficient, K, is zero may be used to
estimate
a. the volume within the column occupied by the packing materials
b. the total volume of the column
c. the volume within the pores of the packing material
d. the volume within the column available to the mobile phase
9. The purpose of the solid support material in a GLC column is to
a. immobilize the stationary liquid phase
b. adsorb sample components that are insufficiently soluble in the stationary liquid phase
c. provide a "backup" stationary phase in the event that the liquid is lost by evaporation
d. remove impurities from the carrier gas
e.
10. Helium, rather than nitrogen, is sometimes used as the carrier gas in GLC because
a. being lighter than nitrogen, helium elutes the sample components more rapidly
b. helium is less expensive than nitrogen
c. nitrogen has stable isotopes which separate and cause anomalous column behavior
d. of its much higher thermal conductivity

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11. An important feature of open-tubular GLC column is

a. they can accept much larger samples than can packed column because of their great length
b. solute partitioning between stationary and mobile phases is very rapid and the C term in the
Van Deemter equation is relatively small
c. they permit the use of a wider variety of carrier gases
d. they can be operated at temperatures closer to the boiling point of the stationary liquid phase than
can packed columns and thus handle less volatile examples
12. Raising the column temperature in GLC decreases solute retention times primarily because
a. solute diffusion coefficients in the liquid phase decrease with increasing temperature
b. van der Waals interactions between solutes and stationary phase are stronger at higher
temperatures
c. gases are generally less soluble in liquids at higher temperatures
d. detector sensitivity is a function of temperature, especially with a thermal conductivity cell
13. Which of the following would have practically no effect upon the retention volume of a solute in GLC?
a. changing the carrier-gas flow-rate
b. increasing the stationary liquid loading of the column packing from 5 to 10% by weight
c. increasing the column temperature
d. changing the chemical nature of the stationary liquid
14. The separation factor, S, in chromatography depends upon
a. the length of the column
b. the square root of the length of the column
c. the nature of the stationary liquid phase
d. the number of theoretical plates in the column
15. In GLC, interaction of solutes with the solid support will often cause
a. unusually narrow elution bands
b. asymmetric elution band
c. excessive eddy diffusion
d. decreased detector sensitivity
16. Increasing the quantity of stationary liquid phase applied to the column packing will, with everything
else the same,
a. increase tR for a solute
b. decrease tR for a solute
c. not influence tR for a solute
d. decrease the nonequilibrium term in the van Deemer equation

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17. A neutral molecule such as ethanol or sugar which has found its way into the pores of a typical anionexchange resin can be eliminated
a. only by replacement with a cation
b. only by replacement with an anion
c. only if replaced by another organic molecule on a one-for-one exchange basis
d. by flushing out the water
18. In chromatography, a substance for which the distribution coefficient, K, is zero may be used to
estimate
a. the volume within the column available to the moving phase
b. the volume within the column occupied by the packing
c. the volume within the pores of the packing material
d. the total volume of the column
19. Which of the following statements is false in normal phase absorption?
a. The more polar a compound, the more strongly it will be adsorbed from a solution
b. A high molecular weight favors adsorption, other factors being equal
c. The more polar the solvent, the stronger the adsorption of the solute
d. The adsorption isotherm is usually nonlinear
20. The best measure of the quantity of a solute in LC is
a. the height of the elution band
b. the area of the elution band
c. the baseline width of the elution band
d. the retention volume
21. Which of the following would be the fastest way to decide which adsorbent and what solvent system to
use for a larger-scale chromatographic separation of an organic reaction product from materials formed
in side reactions?
a. Paper chromatography
b. Affinity chromatography
c. TLC
d. Adsorption chromatography with gradient elution
22. To deionize tap water by ion exchange for laboratory use, the best approach employs
a. a column containing a strong-acid cation exchange in the hydrogen form
b. a column containing a strong-base anion exchanger in the hydroxyl form
c. a mixed-bed column containing a strong-acid cation exchanger in the sodium form and a strongbase anion exchanger in the chloride form
d. a mixed-bed column containing a strong-acid cation exchanger in the hydrogen form and a
strong-base anion exchanger in the hydroxyl form
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23. Line spectra are emitted by

a. incandescent solids
b. excited molecules
c. molecules in the ground electronic state
d. excited atoms and monatomic ions
24. Band spectra are emitted by
a. tungsten lamps and Nernst glowers
b. excited molecules in the vapor phase
c. excited atoms and monatomic ions
d. incandescent solids
25. A chemical engineer is conducting research on the development of analytical methods based upon
chemiluminescence. If a conventional spectrofluorometer is used for the measurements, an the
instrument has separate switches for its various circuits, which switch will be left in the "off" position?
a. detector power supply
b. amplifier
c. source power supply
d. power to the motor drive of the scanning monochromator on the emission side of the instrument
26. In flame spectroscopy, the highest temperature fuel oxidant combination available as yet is
a. hydrogen-oxygen
b. hydrogen-nitrous oxide
c. acetylene-oxygen
d. acetylene-nitrous oxide
27. If the change in a molecule caused by absorption of light energy involves change in the average
separation of the nuclei of two or more atoms, then the change is
a. electronic
b. vibrational
c. translational
d. rotational
28. The nephelometric method of analysis is based upon
a. Beer's law
b. Fajar's law
c. Bouger law's
d. Beer Lambert's Law

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29. IR spectro-photometers have practically the same basic components as visible and UV spectrophotometers. In which of the following basic components could the devices be used interchangeable in
both:
a. sources of radiant energy
b. optical system
c. sample holders
d. detectors
30. Which of the following may not be used in the determination of sugars?
a. TLC chromatography
b. Polarimetry
c. Copper reduction methods
d. Lane and Eynon methods
31. Which is not the recommended device for a filter photometry?
a. hydrogen arc lamp
b. glass filter
c. barrier layer photocell
d. none of these
32. This law states that the amount of light absorbed or transmitted by a solution is an experimental
function of the concentration of absorbing substance present and the sample path length
a. Bouger's Law
b. Beer's Law
c. Lambert's Law
d. Bouger-Beer Law
33. Deviation's from Beer's Law may be due to
a. instrumental
b. intermolecular reactions
c. formation of complexions with varying number of ligonds
d. all of these
34. IR spectrophotometers have the same basic components as UV spectrophotometers, except:
a. source of radiant energy and the kind of detectors
b. materials used in the optical system
c. materials used in the sample cells
d. all of these

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35. Which of the following involves emission of radiation by excited atoms:

a. Ultra-violet spectrophotometry
b. Infra-red spectrophotometry
c. Atomic absorption spectrometry
d. Nephelopmetry
36. The absorption of a solution of a particular substance does not depend on the :
a. wavelength of the incident light
b. intensity of the incident light
c. concentration of the substance
d. thickness of the sample cell
37. If we compare flame spectrophotometry and emission spectroscopy, which of the following statements
will be true?
a. Flame photometry is more senstive than emission spectroscopy
b. Flame photometry can analyze more metals than emission spectroscopy
c. Flame photometry is less sensitive to the matrix than emission spectroscopy
d. Flame photometry is simpler to use than emission spectroscopy
38. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) differs from visible absorption spectrophotometry because
AAS
a. has no light source
b. does not need a monochromator
c. does not follow Beer's Law
d. destroys the sample when a reading is made
39. Gas chromatography does not use this detector
a. thermal conductivity detector
b. refractive index detector
c. flame ionization detector
d. electron capture detector
40. In gas chromatography, the retention time is not dependent on
a. carrier gas velocity
b. column temperature
c. volume of compound analyzed
d. volatility of compound analyzed

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