On the Accuracy of Chemical Relaxation Measurements

SUMMARY SUMMARY An analysis is presented of the accuracy obtainable in relaxation experiments with the temperature- or pressure-jump techniques. A procedure is proposed to determine the relaxation time of the main exponential in case of the superposition of two (or more) relaxing effects one of which has an amplitude considerably larger than the other(s). Furthermore, a technique is described for the objective determination of two relaxation processes which have comparable amplitude and a ratio of relaxation times larger than about five. Some effects likely to introduce errors in practical relaxation experiments and the means of eliminating or at least reducing their influence are discussed. Of course, the technique proposed is also applicable to other cases of superimposed exponential functions, e.g., to the determination of similar half-hfes of two simultaneously decaying radioactive elements.