Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-11-2025

Abstract

Understanding the difference between signal and noise in a measurement is fundamental to analytical chemists. The typical instruments found in an undergraduate chemistry department can be used to teach this concept, as well as signal averaging, by giving students hands-on experience with measurements and data processing. This work presents an undergraduate laboratory module (homework and experiment) that provides specific instructions for using gas chromatographs, fluorometers, a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, an atomic absorption spectrophotometer, and an infrared spectrometer to collect replicate measurements and a framework for calculating the noise level, baseline, signal level, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and the signal thresholds for the limits of detection and quantitation (LOD and LOQ). With these figures of merit, students can graphically visualize the relationship between these parameters and the measured data. Also instructive is the graphical comparison between a single measurement and an ensemble averaged measurement where the baseline noise is visibly attenuated.

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