absorbance

(əbˈsɔːbəns; -ˈzɔː-) n (General Physics) physics a measure of the light-absorbing ability of an object, expressed as the logarithm to base 10 of the reciprocal of the internal transmittance. See transmittance

ab•sorb•ance

(æbˈsɔr bəns, -ˈzɔr-)

n. Physics. the capacity of a substance to absorb radiation. [1945–50]

Thesaurus

Noun

absorbance - (physics) a measure of the extent to which a substance transmits light or other electromagnetic radiationoptical density, photographic density, transmission densitydensity, denseness - the amount per unit sizenatural philosophy, physics - the science of matter and energy and their interactions; "his favorite subject was physics"

absorbance

[ab-sor´bans] in radiology, a measure of the ability of a medium to absorb radiation, expressed as the logarithm of the quotient of the intensity of the radiation entering the medium divided by that leaving it.

ab·sor·bance (A, A),

(ab-sōr'bants), spectrophotometry log of the ratio of the radiant power of the incident radiation to the radiant power of the transmitted radiation. Synonym(s): absorbancy, absorbency, extinction (2) , optic density

Absorbance

Chemistry A logarithm of the percent transmission of a wavelength of light through a liquid.
Microbiology A measure of the amount of light absorbed by a suspension of bacteria or an organic solution, measured by spectrophotometry. Absorbance values are used to plot the growth of bacteria in broth and gauge the purity and concentration of molecules in solution.

ab·sor·bance

(ăb-sōr'băns) spectrophotometry 2 minus the log of the percentage transmittance of light.
Synonym(s): extinction (2) , optic density.

absorbance

a spectrophotometric measurement of the light absorbed by a solution at a particular WAVELENGTH. The absorbance (A) derives from the percentage of light transmitted as follows:

where I_o is the incident light intensity and I is the transmitted light intensity. The absorbance is related to the molar absorption coefficient (extinction coefficient) e (cm^-1M^-1), concentration c (M), and path length l (cm) as follows:

Absorbance can therefore be used to determine the concentration of a substance in solution, to follow conversion of a SUBSTRATE to a product in an enzymic reaction (see ENZYME), and so on.

Absorbance is sometimes referred to as OPTICAL DENSITY, although this term should be used for measurement of light scattering.

absorbance

A measure of absorption equal to the logarithm to the base 10 of the reciprocal of the transmittance T, for a specified wavelength and expressed as A = −log₁₀ T. Syn. optical density. See optical density; transmittance.

absorbance

Related to absorbance: spectrophotometer, transmittance

noun

Synonyms for absorbance

noun (physics) a measure of the extent to which a substance transmits light or other electromagnetic radiation

Synonyms

optical density
photographic density
transmission density

Related Words

density
denseness
natural philosophy
physics