mass spectrum
- noun
- /mæs ˈspɛktrəm/
- Specialized
:
espectro de masas
- I want to show you what a mass spectrum looks like.
Examples
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An individual IS/TOF-MS mass spectrum from these experiments identified SO2, COS, and other volatile sulfur-containing compounds.
Academic text (1998) -
By interpreting the mass spectrum, researchers could determine the molecular weight of the compound.
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But for this time we were the ones influencing the mass spectrum, the crystal.
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The exoplanet mass spectrum is a key diagnostic clue for understanding these systems.
Blog text (5) -
C70 was a charter member of the family; it was the second most prominent peak in the original 1985 mass spectrum.
Academic text (1996) -
Two years later, Kellogg and I used an imaging atom probe operated by nanosecond laser pulses to determine the mass spectrum of silicon.
Academic text (2006) -
An ion trap is most commonly used as a mass analyzer, which typically involves mass-selective axial ejection to generate mass spectra.
Academic text (1998) -
The scientist analyzed the mass spectrum to identify the composition of the unknown substance.
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The mass spectrum revealed distinct peaks corresponding to various isotopes in the sample.
Surface Forms
Morphology
A learner who knows 'mass' and 'spectrum' (understood as a range or distribution) can reasonably infer that a 'mass spectrum' is a distribution or range of masses, so the basic compositional idea is accessible. However, the precise technical sense involving ions, mass-to-charge ratios and instrumentation is specialized and not fully predictable from everyday meanings, so it is not fully transparent.
Etymology
Mass spectrum is a literal name: mass refers to the weight of tiny charged particles and spectrum means a range shown on a chart. Scientists make a 'picture' that shows how many charged particles have each mass, so the phrase means 'a chart showing particles of different mass'.
