Consider a narrow-bore (0.25 mm diameter) open tubular gas chromatography column coated with a thin film (0.10 μm thick) of stationary phase that provides 5000 plates per meter. Consider also a wide-bore (0.53 μm diameter) column with a thick film (5.0 μm thick) of stationary phase that provides 1500 plates per meter.
(a) Why does the thin film provide more theoretical plates per meter than the thick film?
(b) The density of stationary phase is 1.0 g/mL. What mass of stationary phase in each column is in a length equivalent to one theoretical plate?
(c) How many nanograms of analyte can be injected into each column if the mass of analyte is not to exceed 1.0