THE MASS SPECTROMETER

The mass spectrometer is an instrument used for analyzing samples of elements and compounds. It consists of six basic stages: Injection, Vaporization,  Ionization, Acceleration, Deflection, and  Detection.

Click to view a diagram of the mass spectrometer.

• The sample is injected into the instrument.
•  It may be vaporized by heating. 
• The vaporized sample is then passed into an ionizing beam of electrons which knock electrons off the sample to create positive ions.
• These positive ions are then accelerated by some electrostatically charged plates into a magnetic field.
• The magnetic field then deflects the particles according to their mass/charge ratio.
• The deflected ions then arrive at the detector.

You can test yourself on the atomiser by clicking this link. It is a timed quiz.