mass spectroscopy
- noun
- /mæs spɛkˈtrɒskəpi/
- Specialized
:
espectrometría de masas
- EC was analyzed by gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy.
Examples
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In the lab, mass spectroscopy was crucial for determining the masses of various ions produced during the experiment.
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This year's recipients helped adapt mass spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance to the study of proteins.
Academic text (2002) -
So I want to switch to another technique called secondary ion mass spectroscopy, or Sims.
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Modern topics covered include the Hall effect, mass spectroscopy, the atomic origins of magnetism, and briefly, the considerations leading to the theory of relativity.
Academic text (1996) -
Researchers utilized mass spectroscopy to analyze the composition of the air samples collected from the site.
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The team presented their findings on mass spectroscopy, highlighting its effectiveness in identifying unknown compounds.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'mass' (a property to be measured) plus 'spectroscopy' (a method of analyzing spectra) yields a spectroscopy technique concerned with mass. Although the term is technical, the noun–noun compound follows a regular, cross-linguistically common pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The noun mass spectroscopy joins mass (the weight of tiny charged pieces) and spectroscopy (making a pattern, like a rainbow, so you can read different parts). In the lab, scientists turn molecules into charged pieces and spread them into a pattern to read their weights, so the term means 'to find the masses of small charged particles'.
