Gas Chromatography Graph analysis

Question

-- How can I find the peak area of incompletely separted compounds. I am not in the lab right now. I can only use a ruler and a pencil no fancy instruments. Appreciate your help.
Thanks.

This is tricky without seeing the GC plot. If the peaks are only slightly overlapping, yet the peaks are symmetrical, drop a vertical down to the base line and use "half base x height" to get the areas of the triangles.

A sneaky way that I used to use was to trace the set of peaks onto paper and cut out the peaks 'by eye' with scissors, then weigh the peaks! It does work. We are rarely looking for more than 2 sigs figs.

If the peaks are strange shapes, another way is to trace the peaks again 'by eye' onto graph paper, and count the squares.

It is difficult to advise without seeing the plot.

DrRuss
Can I send you my GC plot via email