What is a gas mass spectrometer?
The gas mass spectrometer is an analytical device used to determine the concentration of elements in known samples and as a tool to derive unknown samples. It works by detecting the deflected ions derived from an atom or a molecule in a magnetic field. In the inorganic analysis, each elementary atom produces a characteristic spectrum. Less massive atoms are more diverted, as well as atoms with a larger charge. Several enhancements of this basic configuration cause the gas mass spectrometer to be useful in organic analysis and also as an elementary determination. The liquid is then evaporated and ionized by bombing electric current, which knocks one or more electrons from the atom. The positively charged ion passes through the magnetic field at the right angle that develops on the ion. The degree of deflection is directly proportional to the ratio of the charge to the weight of the ions.
While the principle of mass spectsThe gas rometer is easy to understand, the tool is a careful combination of components. The evaporated sample is introduced into the evacuated ionization chamber. A vacuum is required or the newly created Ion would soon collide with the air molecule. In the ionization chamber, the electrically heated metal coil emits the electrons to the side and knocks the electrons from the ions forming atoms, which are then collected in the electron trap. The ionization chamber is operated with a positive 10,000 volts
Positive ions are accelerated from the ionization chamber by an ion removal plate held at a slightly higher positive voltage. The current of high -powered particles is concentrated in a tight beam and then passes through the magnietary field induced by solenoid. Depending on the weight ratio, the ions will be diverted to a lesser or greater extent. Charging on an electromagnet may change to focus the ion current, which is interesting on the detection plate. The detector compares the electrical current produced by each ion current to determine reLative abundance.
Each element has a characteristic spectrum. The spectrum is a graph of relative abundance of each charge/mass ratio. Each line on the graph is related to the relative concentration of ions produced by the precipitation of the first electron, followed by the second electron, the third, etc. Comparing the spectrum with elementary mass spectra in the links can determine the element producing spectrum.
The use of a gas mass spectrometer in organic analysis is a bit more complicated. Organic compounds create a large number of ionized fragments in the ionization chamber. The weight spectra of even Simple organic compounds are much more complex and often subject to greater interpretation. The gas weight spectrometer can be used to confirm the identity of the organic compound if the spectrum is very clean, but often correlation of results from other techniques are required.
In the weight spectrometer of gas chromatography (GC/MS), the mixture is first separated by gas chromatography and sweatfed to the gas mass spectrometer. In the part of the gas chromatography of this combined tool, evaporated molecules separate their ability to distract the carrier gas. By changing the type, temperature and flow rate of the load -bearing gas, different mixtures can be separated to form clean, separate samples of each compound. Optimization is required to determine the correct gas chromatograph and subsequent adjustment of the mass spectrometer. Once the sample source is characterized, for example in a production plant or in a natural source such as an oil well, these tools produce economic, relative results.