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A flow-injection system to carry out gravimetric analysis is presented. Students are faced with an instrumental approach for gravimetric procedures. Crucibles, muffle furnaces, and desiccators are not required. A flowing suspension is established by simultaneously injecting an aqueous sample and a precipitating reagent into two merging carrier streams. The precipitate is accumulated on a minifilter hanging under the plate of an analytical balance and is weighed inside the main stream. Since Archimedes' principle holds, a drying step is not needed. After measurement, the precipitate is dissolved and disposed of. As an application, the determination of phosphate based on precipitation with ammonium and magnesium ions in slightly alkaline medium is chosen.
The proposed system is very stable and well suited for demonstration. When applied to analysis of fertilizer extracts with 0.10-1.00% w/v P, it yields precise results (RSD < 0.042) in agreement with an official spectrophotometric method.
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