Question

Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy: Explain why elements of low atomic number are difficult to be detected

Answer 1

There are some limitations of Energy Dispersive x ray spectroscopy.

One of them is it can't detect light elements having atomic number less than 11.

Reason 1:

They have low energy x rays subject to strong absorption by the specimen.

Reason 2:

The electrons involved in generating the characteristic x rays are also the valence electrons involved in chemical bonding of the element, therefore the shapes and positions of the peaks may change in different compounds.