A mass spectrometer

A mass spectrometer

A mass spectrometer can be described as an analytical technique applied in quantifying known materials and objects to identify and evaluate the compounds in a sample. The identification is always done to elucidate the chemical and structural properties of various molecules. The objectives of the writings are founded at the discussion and explanation of the various uses of the mass spectrometer in addition to its works respectively. The explanation of its operation will be based on the right-hand rule approach.

The technique used by the mass spectrometer is based on the effect of the ionization energy on the molecules. Depending on the chemical reaction in the phase of the gas in which the sample molecules are consumed during the neutral and ionic species formation. With this technique, the mass spectrometer is useful and can as well be used in the identification of molecules in a mixture as well as in the analysis of the purified proteins. Other uses include the detection of impurities in a sample in addition to the study of the content of protein of a sample of cells. With the spectrometer, the results obtained can be used in the provision of a good estimate on the purity of a sample in addition to the identification and quantification of the various samples. Moreover, the results obtained can as well be used in monitoring the reactions and the sequence of amino acids to give clear information on the structure of the protein. The oligonucleotides in the structure of the protein can as well be monitored using the results obtained by the mass spectrometer.

The mass spectrometer entails the three primary components that include the ion source that yields the ions, the analyzer that is deemed with the role of resolving the ions in their attributes mass component, and the system detector that detects the ions and records their relative abundance of the ionic species.

The first stage in the working of the mass spectrometer entails the selection of ions from the source that have a similar velocity. This is always achieved by passing the ions via the area that have both the magnetic and electric fields. The electric field is offered by the two metal plates, which are oppositely charged. There will always be an electric field in the region existing between the plates that are directed downward if the bottom plate is negative and the top plate is positive. A downward force will be exerted on the positively charged ion by the field. The electric force will, therefore, be given by FE = qE, where the charge on the ion is the q and the magnitude of the electric field donated by E.

The upward electric force is given by Fm = qvB1 while the downward electric force is given by FE= qE. The area between the two plates is the magnetic field that is shown as B1 which is oriented to be at right angle or perpendicular to the velocity of the ions. By the application of the right-hand rule, it is clear that the upward component is the force applied on the ion, which is as well opposite to the direction of the electric force. The magnetic force is therefore given by Fm = qvB1 but because the angle between the velocity and the field in mass spectrometer is always set at 900 the final equation becomes Fm = qvB1. In the working of the mass spectrometer, there is always no force of deflection because the magnetic and electric forces are always equal and opposite based on the magnitude. Therefore, only specific particles of a given velocity can get to the crossed magnetic and electric fields described as the velocity selector. This velocity can be calculated by

From the selector region, the ions then move to the next region where there is only the magnetic field B2. In this region, the velocity of the ion is seen to be perpendicular to the magnetic force, which is the upward force when the right-hand rule is applied. In this case, of the mass spectrometer, the centripetal force to move the ions is offered by the magnetic force. The centripetal force, Fe is given by. Therefore, the magnetic force will be; Consequently, this will mean that the ions will be moving in a circular path of radius shown by

In conclusion, the magnetic force of the ions that have a larger speed always exceeds the electric force and in most cases, they are always deflected out of the beam. Whereas the ions that have the smaller speed in most cases are always deflected out of the beam as well but in the opposite direction. This is always because the magnetic force of such ions is always less than the electric force.