ABSTRACT
Although engineering-scale chemical operations create the forensic signatures that the analyst interprets, chemistry on the laboratory scale establishes the methods used by the analyst to isolate those signatures and defines the accuracy with which they can be measured. Chemical effects on a small scale control the fine structure of the matrix of a sample down to micrometer dimensions. This is especially important in the study and characterization of particles. Chemical effects also control the interactions of the sample surface with the environment and may provide clues to the path over which the sample moved from the point of fabrication to the point of interdiction. In this chapter, the analytical chemistry of the heavy elements in the laboratory and the processing of samples on the microscale are considered.
