8
(Bio)Chemical
Evident
Accessible
Measurable
Information
Characterization
1 Introduction to Analytical Chemistry
Latent, intrinsic
Truthfu l
Useful
Fig. 1.5. Professor Malissa's philosophical definition of Analytical Chemistry revolves around
attributes of the word "information"
evident, accessible, measurable, truthful and useful. Such a basic approach to
Analytical Chemistry, which is illustrated schematically in Fig. 1.5, relies on
several attributes of the word "information" that identify it ("chemical"), specify
its origin ("latent", "intrinsic"), assign it technical features ("evident", "accessible", "measurable") and delimit its quality in both basic ("truthful") and
practical terms ("useful").
I
~j'/''','m/ld;;( w//////''
Intrinsic
~
quality
- information
I
Referential
Information
quality
held as true
Analytical
I A information
information I
produced
\
I
Fig.1.6. Analytical chemical information levels ranked according to quality and to their
relationship to trueness, accuracy and uncertainty