Mass spectrometry Flashcards
What are the stages of mass spectrometry?
1) Ionisation
2) Acceleration
3) Deflection
4) Detection
What are the conditions are required?
- Vacuum
- Gaseous state
What does ionisation do?
Atoms are converted into ions.
What does deflection do?
it deflects particles according to their mass and charge.
What does acceleration do?
It accelerates the ions.
What does detection do?
It detects the ions using a detector.
More ions of particular m/z = more current = larger intensity of peak.
Why is a vacuum required?
It is required so that the ions do not collide with air molecules.
What are the steps to work out the atomic mass using mass spectrometry?
1) Multiply the m/z value by the relative abundance % for each peak.
2) Add results for each peak together
3) Then divide by the total relative abundance
What does m/z stand for?
Mass to charge ratio
