Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique for the determination of the elemental composition of a sample or molecule. It is also used for elucidating the chemical structures of molecules, such as peptides and other chemical compounds. The MS principle consists of ionizing chemical compounds to generate charged molecules or molecule fragments and measurement of their mass-to-charge ratios. In a typical MS procedure:

  1. a sample is loaded onto the MS instrument, and undergoes vaporization.
  2. the components of the sample are ionized by one of a variety of methods (e.g., by impacting them with an electron beam), which results in the formation of positively charged particles (ions)
  3. the positive ions are then accelerated by an electric field
  4. computation of the mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) of the particles based on the details of motion of the ions as they transit through electromagnetic fields, and
  5. detection of the ions, which in step 4 were sorted according to m/z.

MS instruments consist of three modules: an ion source, which can convert gas phase sample molecules into ions (or, in the case of electrospray ionization, move ions that exist in solution into the gas phase); a mass analyzer, which sorts the ions by their masses by applying electromagnetic fields; and a detector, which measures the value of an indicator quantity and thus provides data for calculating the abundances of each ion present. The technique has both qualitative and quantitative uses. These include identifying unknown compounds, determining the isotopic composition of elements in a molecule, and determining the structure of a compound by observing its fragmentation. Other uses include quantifying the amount of a compound in a sample or studying the fundamentals of gas phase ion chemistry (the chemistry of ions and neutrals in a vacuum). MS is now in very common use in analytical laboratories that study physical, chemical, or biological properties of a great variety of compounds.

From Wikipedia under the GNU Free Documentation License
Wed Feb 17 20:37:50 2010

mass spectrometry. what does relative abundance mean?
Q. i have a chart of isotopes given to help read mass spectrometry. it lists relative abundance and i'm not sure of the purpose of this.
Asked by kay l - Thu Feb 7 21:25:40 2008 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Relative abundance in Mass spectrometry is a method of reporting the amount of each Mass to Charge measurement (m/z) after assigning the most abundant ion 100%. All of the other peaks are reported as a relative intensity to the largest peak. Take a look at the sites below:
Answered by Richard - Sat Feb 9 23:55:15 2008

What are principles and components of Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasms-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)?
Q. What are principles and components of Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasms-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)?
Asked by alshaa01 - Wed Aug 15 00:17:43 2007 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments

A. A proper answer to this question would require a textbook length answer. In terms of instrumentation a high-resolution inductively coupled mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) is combined with a laser ablation microprobe sampling system which often operated in the UV spectrum. The sample material to be investigated is vaporized in a laser plasma by focussed laser radiation. The reason for the UV wavelength (high energy) is to ensure vaporization. The vaporized sample is then transported using argon gas into the inductively coupled plasma ion source of an ICP-MS. This ionizes the atoms in preparation for Mass spectrometry analysis. Neutral atoms cannot be used. The positively charged ions are extracted from the inductively coupled plasma… [cont.]
Answered by Richard - Thu Aug 16 07:56:37 2007

how long can thc be detected using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis?
Q. how long can thc be detected using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis?
Asked by deb p - Sat Apr 14 22:52:08 2007 - - 3 Answers - 0 Comments

A. THC will stay in your body for many days. The best thing to do if you're worried about it is to stop using it. Some of my friends you smoked it in college completely wasted the best years of thier lives with that stuff. Stop smoking it, get an education and be productive. Marijuana takes away you're motivation for life and will ruin it.
Answered by WhitEC - Sat Apr 14 23:01:52 2007

From Yahoo Answer Search: "Mass spectrometry"
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The mass spectrometer trace for naturally occurring magnesium is shown below Assuming that all three peaks relate to ions with one positive charge what is the relative atomic mass for magnesium

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