1.7 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polarimeter | 4/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarimeter | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:43:28.106070+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Chemical industry === Many chemicals exhibit a specific rotation as a unique property (an intensive property like refractive index or specific gravity) which can be used to distinguish it. Polarimeters can identify unknown samples based on this if other variables such as concentration and length of sample cell length are controlled or at least known. This is used in the chemical industry. By the same token, if the specific rotation of a sample is already known, then the concentration and/or purity of a solution containing it can be calculated. Most automatic polarimeters make this calculation automatically, given input on variables from the user.
=== Food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries === Concentration and purity measurements are especially important to determine product or ingredient quality in the food & beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Samples that display specific rotations that can be calculated for purity with a polarimeter include:
Polarimeters are used in the sugar industry for determining quality of both juice from sugar cane and the refined sucrose. Often, the sugar refineries use a modified polarimeter with a flow cell (and used in conjunction with a refractometer) called a saccharimeter. These instruments use the International Sugar Scale, as defined by the International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis (ICUMSA).
== See also ==
Optical rotation Polarimetry Polarization Chirality Enantiomers
== References ==