Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
The purpose of this experiment was to create a simple and inexpensive flame photometer to measure the concentration of sodium in beverages, such as Gatorade. We created a nebulizer using small tubing and sprayed the sample into the base of a Bunsen burner. Adjacent to the flame was a photodiode with a filter specific for the emission of the sodium D-line. After making a calibration curve, students could detect the amount of sodium in Gatorade to within 10% of the value on the label. The system costs less than 500 and can be assembled by students and used in an analytical chemistry laboratory course.
LaFratta et al. (Wed,) studied this question.