Mass Spectrometry 101

  • Released Thursday, July 22, 2010
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What do you do if you have a sample from another planet, and you want to find out if it contains a certain molecule...maybe even one that will reveal that the planet can sustain life? When scientists face a situation like this, they employ an amazing tool: the mass spectrometer. It does the hard work of separating out materials, allowing scientists to look very closely at a sample and see what's inside. Learn more about this tool in the video and animation below!

This short video explains the basics of the quadrupole mass spectrometer.

For complete transcript, click here.

This silent animation depicts a sample moving through the quadrupole mass spectrometer.

This silent animation depicts a sample moving through the quadrupole mass spectrometer. THIS VERSION HAS NO TEXT LABELS.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Thursday, July 22, 2010.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:54 PM EDT.

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