Chapter 22, Problem 22.26P

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

The purpose of the reflectron in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer has to be explained.

Concept introduction:

Time-of-flight mass spectrometer:

• Time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS) is one of the types of mass spectrometers.
• This method is used to determine an ion’s mass to charge ration via a time of flight measurement.

Resolving power:

• Resolving power is used to separate two peaks with similar mass of the mass spectrometer.
• Resolving power can be represented by the formula is

$\text{Resolving power = }\frac{\text{m}}{\text{Δm}}\text{or }\frac{\text{m}}{{\text{m}}_{\text{1/2}}}$

• Where, the value of m is smaller than the value of $\raisebox{1ex}{$\text{m}$}\!\left/ \!\raisebox{-1ex}{$\text{z}$}\right.$