PROCESS

• WHAT CAN BE CALCULATED FROM A MASS SPECTROMETER?

  relative atomic mass & relative molecular mass
• PROCESS OF MASS SPECTROMETRY?

  1. Sample atoms INJECTED into mass spectrometer
  2. Pass through ionisation chamber
  3. Beam of HIGH ENERGY ELECTRONS bombard sample
  4. Knock an ELECTRON out of each atom's outer shell -> forming ions with a single POSITIVE charge
  5. Ions are then ACCELERATED by an ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD to the same KE
  6. Pass into the drift region
  7. Ions move with a speed INDIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to their mass
  8. Hit DETECTOR and produce a CURRENT (by picking up an electron)
• WHAT IS THE CURRENT PRODUCED PROPORTIONAL TO?

  abundance of each isotope
• WHAT FIELD ACCELERATES THE IONS?

  electromagnetic field