A spectrophotometer is a device used to determine the absorption or transmittance of light through a particular substance. Though such data may seem mundane to the average person, it is important to many industries. Spectrophotometers are used in the food industry, for example, to determine what colors should be used to give food a specific look. They are also useful in biochemistry to figure out what wavelength of light is best absorbed by a given plant pigment.
A spectrophotometer consists of two basic parts. One, the spectrometer, produces light of a given wavelength. The other, the photometer, measures how much of the light is absorbed. In between the spectrometer and the photometer is the sample tube, which is generally called a cuvette. A cuvette is a small, transparent tube made specially for holding liquids to be tested using a spectrophotometer.
Some spectrophotometers can only produce light in the visible and UV spectrums, while others are uniquely designed to support the infared spectrum. They are common tools in research labs, but like many pieces of scientific equipment, can be quite expensive with prices starting in the low thousands and topping out around ten thousand dollars.
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