Transit time effect on ICP samples

[MasterBlaster]

Hello

I am really curious how much the ICP samples (and what params) are affected by the travel time(and temperature changes) from the aquarium to the laboratory that does the analysis. I am expecting at least 3 days transit time in my case.


Thanks
Mihai

[Jörg Kokott]

Hi Mihai,
actually not at all as the ICP is testing for inorganic elements which can't turn into something else. Basically, it doesn't matter which chemical form (molecule) is present in the water. So, even if some chemical compounds would get oxidized or reduced for example, the elemental composition wouldn't change.

As far as we talk about nitrite/nitrate, those are usually determined via ion chromatography in mosts labs, not ICP. Given that seawater has some significant oxidizing effects on reduced nitrogen forms like ammonia or nitrite, it's quite possible that during transport those build up nitrate. But this is as mentioned not ICP but ion chromatography and in the end it doesn't really matter.

[MasterBlaster]

Understood!
Thanks Jörg for clarifying this.