Abstract
A method is described whereby a sample's background intensity at the Kα wavelength of an element can be obtained by reference to a calibration curve once its mass absorption coefficient has been determined by the Reynolds' method. Data presented indicate that, in standards with μ0.9Å ranging from 7 to 20 (most rocks and minerals), the reciprocal of the background intensity at the desired Kα line is linearly related to μ so long as the standards are free of the analyzed element. The relationship remains linear even though the analyzed element occurs in the target or other parts of the spectrometer. For routine analysis involving many samples, an accurate estimation of background can be obtained from the analyses of as few as four standards, foregoing the time spent measuring the background of each sample.
