Loading ...Introduction to Standard Curves
Standard Curves are used in chemistry to determine the concentration of a substance. The X axis of a standard curve has units of concentration, while the Y axis usually has units of transmission or absorption of light of a particular frequency dependent on the substance of interest (usually a florescent reporter or dye). A standard curve is represented by an equation that is fit to a series of observations using known concentrations. These observations are plotted and an equation corresponding to the model being tested is regressively fit to the data. After establishing a standard curve for a particular substance, unknown concentrations can be evaluated by taking a measurement and selecting the value on the X axis (concentration) corresponding to the point on the standard curve with the appropriate Y value.