Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy

Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) is a big, long word that means scientists use a special tool to tell what's in a sample of something.

Imagine you have a cup of apple juice, but you don't know what's in it. You might want to find out if there's too much sugar or something else bad for you. Scientists use ICP-AES to find out what's in liquids like apple juice or even metals like gold.

ICP-AES works by first putting a small sample of the apple juice or metal into the ICP-AES device. Next, the scientist heats up the sample so it becomes a gas. The machine then shoots a tiny beam of energy at the gas, which makes it glow and send off little light beams of different colors.

Each of these colors is like a secret code that tells the scientist what's inside the sample. By looking at the different colors, the scientist can tell how much sodium, iron, or anything else is in the sample. It's like decoding a secret message!

So, ICP-AES helps scientists learn what's inside things, and it's like reading secret messages in colors!